The Wizard
by The Dutchman
Summary: Harry and Luna find themselves in Middle Earth. Set in the time of The Hobbit. Rated T for some language.
1. Chapter 1  Prologue

Disclaimer:

Harry Potter and the Harry Potter universe was created by J.K. Rowling. The Hobbit, and all associated characters are the work of J.R.R Tolkien.

Everything else is mine.

Chapter 1 - Prologue

The war was over, and Voldemort was dead. This time for good.

But the price was high. Very high. Thousands dead on both sides, both muggle and magical. Hogwarts, where the final battle took place, had so many dead on the grounds, a person could walk from the front door to the Black Lake without a foot touching the ground. The giants has been effectively wiped out as a species, and the dragon population of Europe, while it would recover eventually, would take centuries to regain the numbers they had before Voldemort. Even the Centaurs in the forbidden forest had been hit badly. 37 dead. But for a heard of just over 150, that was over half their breeding males.

Hogwarts had been damaged so badly, that even using magic, it would be a year until it was fit for habitation again and could re-open as a boarding school. Then of course there were the Professors. Of the staff that were there when Voldemort was resurrected, only 2 remained. Headmaster Dumbledore had been murdered by his Potions teacher two years before. Professor Burbage, the Muggle Studies Professor was kidnapped and killed by Voldemort personally because he didn't like the interview she gave in the Daily Prophet about how advanced muggle society was compared to the magical world. Sybill Trelawney, the Divination teacher, had taken her own life. She claimed in the letter they found next to her body that she had foreseen the fall of Hogwarts and the Wizarding world and didn't want to live in a world that was ruled by the Dark Lord. She wasn't missed. Professor Snape died as he had lived. Violently next to his master. Professor McGonagall had survived, but she had taken a bad hit to her left arm, and while Poppy Pomfrey had managed to save it, she would never regain use in it. Hagrid and his half brother Gwarp had died side by side, fighting the giants that had attacked the castle.

Then there was Professor Flitwick.

After the war was over, the little charms master was posthumously awarded the Order of Merlin First Class with diamonds for his actions that day in the Great Hall, holding off nearly thirty Death Eaters by himself, long enough to give the fifth years and below time to get back to the safety of their homerooms, where they were able to portkey out to safety.

One of the students he gave his life to save that day was Harry Potter. The same Harry Potter who would, five hours later, finally defeat and kill Voldemort on the grounds of Hogwarts in what many would describe years later, as one of the most ferocious duels seen since Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald fifty years earlier.

It was this Harry Potter, who now found himself sitting in an over stuffed chair in the Room of Requirement, staring at a conjured fireplace. He had been alone in this room for 3 weeks, only allowing Dobby to enter so he could be brought food. Food and Fire Whiskey. Harrys friends, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, along with Ron's sister Ginny, who had all somehow managed to survive, had tried to find him, and had even asked Dobby if he knew where Harry was. But Harry had forbidden Dobby from telling anyone his location, telling him to tell his friends that he would be back when he was ready. But until then, he wanted to be alone.

It was here in the Room of Requirement that Luna Lovegood finally found him. It had taken her hours to finally break the wards he had put on the room.

Luna was a small girl, only five foot two, with long dirty blond hair that fell down to her waist. She was a year younger than Harry, and was considered odd by nearly everyone in the school because she always talked about creatures that nobody could see, (or for that matter had ever seen) and because she always had a dreamy, spaced out look on her face. A look that definitely wasn't on her face now.

"Harry James Potter!" she yelled when she saw him, "Do you have any bloody idea how worried people have been? How long we've been looking for you?"

Harry, who didn't have his glasses on, looked up at the blurry image that was now standing right in front of him. "Luna?" he asked. "How did you get in here? I told Dobby not to tell anyone where I was."

"Dobby had nothing to do with it. I figured it out for myself." She stated. "Now answer my question!"

"Luna. I wanted…_I want_ to be alone for now. I came in here so I could think, and I'd appreciate it if you left."

_SLAP!_

Whatever Harry Potter had been expecting, a right cross from Luna Lovegood wasn't it.

"Luna, what the bloody hell…."

_SLAP!_

"Do you have any idea how scared we've all been? Scared that something had happened to you? That you'd gone and done something _stupid_ to yourself?_"_

"Luna, I didn't want to be around anyone. All those people that died in the battle…the last thing I wanted was to hear 'How are you doing Harry?' and 'You really showed _You Know Who_ Harry.' I just can't deal with all that right now."

She went to hit him for a third time, but this time Harry caught her hand in mid swing. "Luna! What's gotten into you? I've never known you to yell at anyone, let alone hit them like this."

"That Luna died three weeks ago when she watched Neville blasted into pieces by that bitch Lestrange. First Daddy, then Neville. She…" but she couldn't continue as she fell down to her knees in front of him. Her whole body shaking as the emotional dam she had managed to hold up for the last four months finally shattered.

Harry did the only thing he could think of. He got down and put his arms around her and held her as she sobbed her heart out.

It was nearly an hour later when Harry noticed that Luna had finally cried herself out and had fallen asleep. Picking her up gently, he silently asked the room for a bed, and after placing he in it, and covering her over with a blanket, he sat back down in his chair and continued to stare at the fire.

-=ooo000ooo=-

When Harry woke, (he didn't even remember falling asleep) he saw that Luna was already up and moving around the room. "Good morning Harry." She said. "I'm sorry about falling apart on you last night." She added, not looking at him as she said this.

Luna… " Harry said walking over to her. She didn't look up at him. He lifted her chin up and looked into her eyes. "Luna, after all that's happened, not just to you but everyone else, you have nothing to apologize for. I did a lot of thinking last night, and I'm glad you found me. I needed some sense slapped into me. Thank you."

Luna went red, and Harry thought _I think that the first time I've ever seen her blush_. "I can't believe I did that." She said, burying her head in her hands and shaking it.

"Harry pulled her hands away and said to her. "Luna, you did what you needed to do. Nothing else would have gotten through. Especially with you doing it. It was the shock I think more than anything I think."

"What do you mean the shock?" she asked.

"Luna, in all the time I've known you, I never heard you even raise your voice, let alone smack someone…TWICE! And then try for a third."

The blush that had started to go away, came back instantly.

"But…" he pressed on, "it was what I needed to make me realize that sitting in here and trying to kill myself with alcohol wasn't going to change things and that I had to get my act together."

"Kill yourself? Harry you didn't really try to kill yourself did you?" Luna asked shocked.

"No, not consciously. I was just trying to forget I think. But it didn't work. No matter how much I drank, I couldn't blot out the memories of all those people that were killed." I don't know Luna, I just wish there was someplace I could go, or something I could do that would make me forget for I while. Just long enough to heal. You know what I mean?"

"Yes I do. I see them too, every night. Mostly it's Daddy and Neville, but it's also Colin, and Ginny's brother Fred…even Cho…and the others." She fell silent.

Harry pulled her into another hug as she started to cry again, this time silently for her lost friends.

As he was holding her, he noticed a disturbance forming in the corner of the room. Almost like someone disillusioned moving through the air. It started getting more and more solid till he could see it was an archway of some kind. With a shock he saw that it looked somewhat like the veil of death in the Ministry. But no, it wasn't that. The veil had that curtain thing in front and it looked to be made of stone. This one was bordered with wood, with green inlays resembling leaves all around the border. On top was a single word, "HOPE"

"Luna, something just appeared in here. Look." He said pointing to the archway.

Luna turned and looked at the archway. "HOPE?" she asked. "I wonder where it goes?"

"I have no idea Luna, and why would it appear now? Unless….."

"Unless what Harry?"

"Luna, what were you just thinking about, just before I told you about it appearing?"

"I was thinking about what you said before. I was wishing there was someplace I could go to forget all about the last year, and everything that's happened."

"I was too." Harry said, lost in thought. "I think…I think the room made it to give us what we wanted…someplace we could go to forget…" then looking at her asked, "Someplace that would give us hope for the future?"

"It's possible." Luna replied. "This is the Room of Requirement after all, and maybe what we _require, _is someplace we can to where nobody knows us, and where we'll be able to fully come to terms with all that's happened to us."

"Do you think we should go through?" Harry asked, "I mean, it could go anywhere. It could even kill us."

Luna look thoughtful for a moment, and then shook her head. "No, I doubt it would kill us. I know that as bad as I feel right now, I don't want to die, and I don't think you want to either." Then looking at him asked, "Or do you?"

Harry shook his head. "No, I don't. I wouldn't give up like that. It would be like pissing on the grave of everyone who gave their lives to help beat Voldemort." Then, still staring at the archway he added. "I'm going to try Luna." He turned and looked at her. "I want you to go back. Tell the others what happened and what I did. I don't want you to go with me…just in case we're wrong, alright?"

"Harry, I won't let you go alone." Luna replied. "What if something does happen to you and you need help? What if…"

"Luna. I'm willing to risk _my_ life, but I won't let you risk yours. Besides," he added after a moment. "someone has to tell everyone to stop wasting their time looking for me, and to tell them that I'll be back when I'm able."

Luna started to object but Harry gently put his hand up and covered her mouth. "Please Luna. I think this is something I have to do."

Luna didn't say anything, just simply nodded, tears silently falling down her cheeks. Harry leaned towards her, and taking her head in his hands, kissed her on the forehead. "Thank you Luna." Then, turning, walked towards the archway. He stopped in front for a moment, and then closing his eyes, he walked through.

Luna watched him disappear through the arch. There was a soft sucking sound as he passed through, and then silence. She continued to stare at it for a little while longer, before screaming "NO!" and ran towards the archway, passing through it with the same sucking sound.

Silence returned to the Room of Requirement, a silence that was broken moments later by a soft *CRACK* A small, strange looking house elf stood there, strange looking because he was wearing a knitted hat, a maroon sweater with a big gold "R" on it and different colored socks. He stared at the archway for a moment, a sad look on his face, before saying softly. "Good luck Harry Potter Sir, and Miss Loony. May yous finds what yous looking for." Then with a last glance at the archway, he disappeared.


	2. Chapter 2  On The Western Road

Chapter 2: On The Western Road

As Harry passed through the archway, everything went black. His last thought was: _Maybe this wasn't such a good idea._

When he awoke, the sun was blazing down on his face. _Well, _he thought, _ if I'm dead, at least I'm not in Hell._ He opened his eyes and saw that it was indeed the sun that was shining down on him. As he sat up, he saw that there was someone lying on the ground next to him. He saw with a surprise that it was Luna. "Oh Luna. Why did you follow me?" he said with a sigh. "You aren't supposed to be here." He said to nobody, as Luna was still unconscious.

Harry slowly got up after checking to see that Luna was okay. He figured she'd wake up in a little while just like he did. He looked around and saw that they were both in a field. There was a stream cutting through the area about 100 feet away from them, and what looked like a dirt path road off in the distance. He breathed in a deep lungful of air. _Merlin the air smells clean. There's no pollution at all in it. Where are we? _He thought.

He heard a sound behind him, and turning saw that Luna was waking up. "Harry?" she asked, trying to get her bearings. "Where are we?"

"I have no idea Luna, and what are you doing here by the way. I thought we agreed that you'd stay to tell the others what happened?" Harry asked.

Luna sat up, and then matter of factly said "No, _you_ agreed. I never said anything."

"But you nodded yes, that you'd stay.

"You mean like this?" she asked, nodding her head up and down.

"Yes. Exactly like that. You said yes."

"Oh, well I always get those two mixed up." Luna replied innocently. "Besides, it worked out in the end. We're both alive, and now you have someone to talk to."

Harry shook his head, smiling for what he thought felt like the first time in years. "Luna what am I going to do with you?"

"I don't know, but…" she started to say. But then said "Ow!" as she reached under her leg and pulled out a rock. She looked at it for a moment before tossing it away. Then continuing said, "but it looks like you're stuck with me."

Harry shook his again. Trying to argue with Luna would only result in him getting a headache. "Come on." He said, offering her his hand to help her up, "We better see if we can figure out where we are. There's what looks like a road over there," he said pointing to the road he had seen earlier. "If we follow it we should come to a town or something where we can get a message off the Hogwarts that we're both safe."

"Yes I suppose we should. We're obviously in the country somewhere, but I don't see any mountains or anything, so we may not be in Scotland anymore. Maybe we're…" but she went silent, her eyes going bigger than Harry had ever seen them.

"Luna, what's wrong?" he asked, instantly going on alert and pulling out his wand.

"Harry, we're…we're not in Scotland anymore. We're not even in Britain. We're…Harry, this isn't our world."

Harry stared at her, trying to understand what she was on about. "Luna, what do you mean it's not our world? Of course it's our world." He looked around again. "From the look of it, we're probably in the Southern part of England somewhere. Maybe around Manchester."

Luna had put her hands up to her temples as she shook her head. "No Harry, you don't understand. Every place on Earth has a magical echo. A resonance in other words. And it's always the same no matter where you go. This place is _different._ It's unlike anything I've ever sensed before. This is NOT our world."

_What the hell is she talking about? _ Harry thought. _This is strange even for Luna._ "Luna, what are you talking about? How can this not be our world, and what do you mean by it different?"

Luna didn't reply, but looked at Harry like she was deciding something important. Finally she said. "Harry, you have to promise me you'll never tell anyone what I'm going to tell you. No one."

Harry looked at her, but it wasn't the look on her face that got his attention, but the look in her eyes. Luna was deadly serious.

"On my life." He said, stilling in her eyes.

"I'm a seer." She said softly.

Harry blinked. "What? A seer? You mean like Trelawney?"

Luna shook her head again. "No. Professor Trelawney was more a prophet than anything else. A seer only comes around every thousand years or so. We can foresee what's going to happen in nature. What's going to evolve. What new plants or animals are going to come into existence, and how the ones we have now will change over time." Harry looked at her blankly.

"But we can also see how the earth is evolving. How it's changing." Then after pausing for a moment, she added softly "and we can also influence those changes."

Slowly, Harry asked, "What do you mean you can influence them. Do you mean you can change evolution?"

"Yes. We can change it a little, or a lot if we want to. We can create animals that aren't supposed to be here yet, or kill off others that are, and we can change how the planets ecological system works."

Harry shook his head. "Luna, that's impossible. You're talking about creating life out of nothing. That's impossible. Nobody can do that."

"Harry, do you remember reading about Morgana le Fey?"

"Morgana le Fey? Isn't she the witch that was trying to kill Merlin? What's she got to do with this?"

Luna sighed. "Harry, Morgana le Fey was a seer. She was also the person responsible for bringing the Dementors into our world from the dark realm, and it's because of her, that it's an automatic death sentence to be found to be a seer today. We're considered far too powerful, and far too dangerous to be allowed to live."

"Just how powerful are you Luna?" Harry asked. Not sure he wanted to know.

"As far as regular magic is concerned, no more powerful than the average witch or wizard. But my other abilities give me the power to destroy the planet…if I wanted too."

Harry was stunned at the magnitude of what Luna had just told him. This sixteen year old girl had just told him that she in effect held the lives of every single living thing on the planet in her hand.

"Luna, does anyone else know this?"

Luna shook her head. "No. The only other person who knew was my mother, and she was training me so that I'd be able to control the power and never let anyone know what I was. But when she died, I was all alone. Even Daddy didn't know."

"But why are you telling me? I mean, you didn't have to. You could have made up something and I would have believed you. Why are you trusting me with this?"

Luna smiled. "Because out of everyone I know, you're the only one who would be able to understand what it's like to be this different."

"Luna, I…"

"Do you remember two yeas ago. You were talking to me in the Great Hall, and I was telling you about the trip Daddy and I were going on to Sweden that summer? I told you that we had gotten a lead on finding a Crumple Horned Snorkack there. Ronald was there with you."

"Yes, I remember. What about it?"

"Well after I left, you and Ronald left to go to class, and Ronald started on about me. Asking how you could put up with "Loony Lovegood" and that I was absolutely mental."

"I remember." Harry said. "But how do you know what he said? You'd left."

"Well I forgot one of my books, and I went back for it. I crossed your path in the hall and heard you both talking about me. Do you remember what you said to him?"

"Ah…" Harry said thinking back to that day. "Not word for word. I do remember not being happy about what Ron said about you though."

"You said "_Everyone has to be something Ron. Luna is just being Luna, and that's good enough for me." _She smiled again. "After Mama was killed, you were the first, and only person…well, except for Daddy and Neville, who truly accepted me for who I was, and you were someone I knew would never try and hurt me. As nice as Ginny was, even she didn't do that. Oh I knew you didn't believe most of the things I usually said, but you never tried to belittle me or what I was saying. You just accepted that they were part of who I was."

Harry stared at her, unsure what to make of this statement. Finally he asked, "The whole "Loony" thing was just an act wasn't it? Part of trying to hide who you really are?"

"Mostly, but not entirely. You see I can literally see the tides of change in the world. I can see all the living things that are in our world. Also the ones that were, and the ones that will be. That kind of thing can drive a person…_loony,_ if they don't find a way to block them out. But the wall I had to put up to block them out and protect myself also makes me appear more than a bit spacey to normal people. Nobody wants to be around someone who's obviously crazy. Around _Loony Lovegood. _But you saw through that wall Harry. It didn't bother you that I was different. That's why I told you."

"So does this mean the Crumple Horned Snorkack doesn't really exist?"

Laughing, Luna replied, "No Harry it doesn't. Well, not _yet_ anyway."

"Not yet?" then thinking about what she had told him asked, "How long then?"

"Oh not too much longer. Maybe another seven hundred years or so. Give or take a half century."

Harry chuckled. "Well then I'll be sure to set my clock. I wouldn't want to miss the little bugger would I? Come on, if this is a different world, then we better get off down the road and see what's in it."

"Okay, if you want." Luna said dreamily, and Harry knew she had put her wall back up. They were starting off towards the road when Harry stopped.

"Why'd you stop? Do you see something?"

"No," Harry said. "But I want to do something before we start out." And then pulling out his wand, he held it up and said "I Harry James Potter, head of the Ancient and Nobel House of Potter, swear on my magic and my life, never to reveal in writing or by spoken word, the secrets told to me this day by Luna Lovegood. So Mote it be!"

A blue light formed above Harry's head and traveled down the length of his body to the ground as the magical oath took hold.

Luna looked shocked. "Harry, You didn't have to do that. I would never have asked you to."

"I know you wouldn't have, and I also know I didn't have to. I did it because I wanted to." He replied as he stowed his wand back up his sleeve.

"Thank you." Luna whispered, a tear sliding down her cheek.

"Merlin, what is it about me that always makes girls cry?" he asked as he wiped the tear away gently. "We better get going."

-=ooo000ooo=-

Harry and Luna had been walking along the road for almost three hours. They had found another small stream that had crossed near the road, and after Harry had transfigured some rocks into military style canteens, alone with a few charms to expand the internal size of them, and keep the water fresh, they now had enough water to do them for a few days. Harry figured they held about 50 liters each, but the canteens weighed almost nothing. Now all they had to do was find food. He saw that there was abundant small game all around them on the lands, but he didn't want to have to kill anything unless he had to. He'd killed enough in the last month.

As they walked, he gazed at the surrounding landscape. He was amazed how much it looked like their world, and yet not. It was just _so green! _The only place he could compare it to were pictures he had seen of New Zealand. But a New Zealand of eight or nine hundred years ago. And the air! It was just plain weird to breath in air that didn't have the slightest trace of petrol fumes in it. All he could smell were the surrounding trees and fields. _I could live here._ He thought to himself. _I really could just chuck the whole wizarding world and stay here for the rest of my life. Build a small house, find myself a nice witch…Hell! Who am I kidding? She didn't have to be a witch…fine myself a nice girl, settle down, and have the family I've never allowed myself to even dream about. Who knows, maybe if we can't get back…maybe Luna and I…_

But he was brought out of his thoughts suddenly by a sound. A "CLIP" "CLOP" sound coming from behind them. He turned to Luna. "Luna, do you hear that?" he asked.

"Yes I do. It sounds like a horse and cart coming up the road from behind us." Luna replied, and Harry saw that while the dreamy look was still on her face, she also looked more thoughtful than usual. "Do you want to get off the road, or wait and see who it is?" she asked.

"Let's wait and see who's coming." Harry answered, "but keep your wand ready…just in case."

"Yes, that would probably be for the best." Luna replied simply.

Harry didn't really have to keep his wand "ready" because it was in his wand holster. A spring loaded auror model he had gotten from Ollivanders last year which was capable of snapping his wand into his had almost instantly. He also had his invisibility cloak on him. He had gotten into the habit of carrying it with him at all times after Dumbledore had told him before term started two years ago to keep it on wherever he went. He was glad now that he had it. He and Luna could both use it to hide if necessary.

They didn't have to wait long before they saw the source of the noise. It was indeed, as Luna had said, a horse drawn cart. But it was the man driving the cart that made Harry's breath catch in his throat. He was a tall man, over six foot, and from the look of him, very old. He was wearing long, dusty grey colored robes, a silver scarf, and a tall blue pointed hat. He also had a long white beard. One that stretched down to his waist.

"Dumbledore…" Harry said, barely above a whisper.

"No, he's not." Luna said. Her dreamy look and sound completely gone now. Not that Harry, in his shock, had noticed. "But he could be his brother." She added.

-=ooo000ooo=-

The old man saw the two strangely dressed youths standing by the edge of the road. _Well well._ He said to himself. _This is strange indeed. I wonder what two big people are doing this close to the Shire? They could be from Bree I suppose. But they're dress is so strange. I've never seen anything like it._ He slowed up his cart when he got to where the two were, and stopped. "Hello." He said to the two. "One doesn't see many big people on the road this far West of Bree. Especially ones so strangely dressed as you two. May I ask your names?"

The young man stepped in front of the woman at his side, and at first the old man thought it was the young man putting himself forward as the more important of the two, but he saw immediately this was not the case. The young man was putting himself _between_ the young woman and a possible threat. He also now felt the raw power radiating off the youth.

"Good afternoon Sir." The young man replied politely, although a bit stiffly. "My name is Harry, and this," indicating the young woman, "is Luna. May we ask your name?"

The old man noticed the youth, although he had been courteous in his response, had never taken his eyes off him. This boy reminded him of a serpent ready to strike at the slightest sign of a threat. He would have to be very careful. "I am called Gandalf," he replied. "I'm a Wizard."

"A Wizard? There are wizards in this world? The boy named Harry asked.

"Indeed there are young Harry. Not many, but a few. And unless I am very much mistaken, there is now at least one more, maybe even two?" he asked.

He saw the boy stiffen slightly at this statement, and he knew that what he had felt had been correct. This boy was indeed a wizard, and a very powerful one. He also felt power coming off the girl as well. Not as much as the boy, but she also seemed to be much more relaxed. He saw her put her hand on his shoulder and whisper something to him. Some of the tenseness seemed to go away as he asked her "Are you sure Luna?" To which she replied with a simple "Yes."

The boy relaxed further, and Gandalf felt the power surrounding the boy fall to a barely noticeable level.

"I'm sorry, " the boy named Harry said. "But you can never be too sure with people you don't know. Luna has told me you mean us no harm, and I trust her feelings completely." He said, looking at the girl for the first time. "Let's start again. My name is Harry Potter, and my companion is Luna Lovegood. We're a witch and wizard."

"Well I am known by many names, but here in the North I am known as Gandalf the Grey, and it's is a pleasure to meet you both. It's been a very, very long time since I've met a new wizard and witch. Are you brother and sister, or husband and wife?"

Harry blushed slightly at the husband and wife question, but replied "No, neither. Luna and I are both seniors at a school of magic where we come from. A school called Hogwarts."

"Hogwarts? That is a strange name for a school. I've never heard of it. And I know of nearly every place in Middle Earth." Gandalf said.

"Middle Earth? Is that where we are?" the girl named Luna asked.

"Indeed it is. But how is it you don't know that?" Gandalf asked the pair.

"We're not from this world." Harry answered. "We were both involved in a war in our world, a magical war, one we both helped win. But it was very hard on us both. We both lost many of our friends, and we needed a place to come to where we could get away from the memories of it for a while. A place away from the death and killing."

Gandalf saw the haunted look in the eyes of the pair as Harry said this. But before he could say anything, Luna asked, "You say we're in Middle Earth. Where exactly in Middle Earth are we? We've been walking along this road now for a while, and you're the first person we've met."

"You are between the village of Bree in the East," Gandalf told them pointing back in the direction he had come from, "and the village of Hobbiton in an are known as the Shire, which is another two hours or so ahead of you along this, the Western Road. It's the Shire that I'm heading to."

Harry thought about this for a moment, then asked Luna, "What do you think?"

"Well, I'd like to see it if you do. What do you think Mr. Gandalf. Do you think Hobbiton would welcome two strangers?"

"Well Hobbits tend to be wary of "big people" as they would call you both, but they are also a caring people who are good judges of character, and would see quickly that you mean them no harm, and as I am on my way there, I can give you a lift. It would also give us a chance to talk on the way. We may be able to help each other out."

Harry looked at Luna again as if asking "You want to go with him?" She simply nodded. "Thank you for the offer of the ride." He said to Gandalf. "We accept." And after climbing on board the cart, helped Luna up as well.

Gandalf snapped the reins and the horse started off again alone the road at a steady pace. "Ah, Gandalf, one thing. What did you mean by we can help each other out?"

"I am on my way to Hobbiton to have a meeting with a Hobbit named Bilbo Baggins. I made a promise to his uncle many years ago that I would see to it that he had some adventure in his life. That and I also promised to help a company of Dwarves regain their birthright. By putting the two promises together, I can do both at the same time, and make it safer for all concerned." Harry didn't say anything, he just nodded, figuring Gandalf would continue. He did. "You and your companion were unexpected. I never expected to find another wizard along the way, let along a wizard and a witch. Both of whom are very powerful. Would you both consider going along to keep an eye on the group and hopefully keep them safe?"

It was Luna that answered. "What would we be doing if we went, and what did you mean by helping the dwarves regain their birthright?" she asked.

Gandalf smiled. "What do you both know about dragons?


	3. Chapter 3  An Unexpected Party

Chapter 3: An Unexpected Party

Over the next two hours Gandalf, Harry and Luna talked about the adventure Gandalf had planned. He decided he could trust them with the truth. He told them about Sauron, and his suspicions about his being the Necromancer. He told them that Sauron was getting stronger and that the main reason for helping out the dwarves was to hopefully deal with the dragon of the Lonely Mountain, before the war that he saw coming, started. He was afraid of what Sauron could do with the dragon. Harry had asked him why he didn't just take care of the dragon himself and he confessed that he wasn't allowed to, that his mission in Middle Earth was to inspire the peoples here to act for themselves, and that while he was in fact a very powerful wizard himself, he was forbidden for the most part from using his magic to directly help.

He also told them of the other Wizards that were in Middle Earth. Of Saruman the White, and Radagast the Brown, as well as the High Elves that were also on the Council, Galadriel and her consort Celeborn, as well as Elrond of Rivendell, who they would meet on their trip. If they went with them that is.

He told them of the White Council which was headed by Saruman, and with which he had a meeting with after he saw the dwarves and Bilbo off.

He said they (the council) were going to try and drive the Necromancer away from his stronghold of Dol Guldur.

To Harry, this sounded like another Voldemort, and this was the last thing he wanted to get involved with. One dark lord was enough for a lifetime, and when he told Gandalf this, the old wizard surprisingly agreed. The Necromancer was their problem he told them. If they could help eliminate the dragon, that would be more than help enough.

Harry and Luna didn't commit to anything, instead telling the old wizard that they would give him their answer after hearing the dwarves story in Bagend, and hearing what Mr. Baggins wanted to do. To this Gandalf reluctantly agreed. He knew it was a risk telling them the whole truth, but he also sensed that they would know if he hadn't.

-=ooo000ooo=-

Meanwhile, in Hobbiton, at number 3 Bagshot Row, Mr. Bilbo Baggins was having a bad day. It had started out pleasantly enough. Upon waking he had made breakfast for himself, his first of two he had planned that day, and was just sitting down to a cup of tea when his doorbell rang.

Instantly he remembered. The wizard Gandalf! He had invited him to tea today, and he's forgotten. Why did he do that? He didn't want anything to do with the old man's adventure, and he certainly didn't want him here to have tea, but he'd been so flustered the other day when he had shown up at his door, telling him that he was going to let him go on the adventure he had planned, like he was going to do him some great favor, that he had invited him to tea today without thinking about it. He had just been happy that the wizard had left. Now he was here, and Bilbo wasn't ready. He immediately set out another cup and saucer, and a few cakes to have with tea, and ran to the door.

"I am so sorry to keep you waiting!" he started to say as he opened the door, but he saw that it wasn't Gandalf standing there when he opened it, but a Dwarf. The first of many Dwarves. Nine of them in fact. Named Dwalin, Balin, (they were brothers) Kili, Fili, Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin, and Gloin. All of them had come in like they had been expected and were now seated around his table eating and drinking, talking about gold and dragons and other things Bilbo didn't understand, and didn't want to understand. He was just starting to think that an adventure had walked into his home all by itself when there was a loud pounding at his door. Like someone knocking on it with a big stick.

Bilbo rushed to his front door, very angry and opened it with a jerk. They all fell in, one on top of the other. There were more dwarves. Four of them in fact. And there was Gandalf standing there, leaning on his staff. Next to him were two other big people. Much younger than Gandalf. A young man and woman.

"Carefully! Carefully!" Gandalf said. "It is not like you, Bilbo, to keep friends waiting at your door, and then open it like a pop-gun! Let me introduce Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, and especially Thorin! Also, this is Harry and Luna." He said indicating the two big people.

Thorin, as it turned out, was an enormously important dwarf, in fact none other than the great Thorin Oakenshield himself, and who was less than pleased at falling flat on Bilbo's mat with Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur landing on top of him.

Looking at the row of nine hoods already hung up, Gandalf said, "Ah, good, we're all here then. Quite a merry gathering! I do hope there is something left for the late-comers to eat and drink!"

The dwarves all gave their orders to Bilbo. Everything from seed cakes and mince pies, to cold chicken and hard boiled eggs. Poor Mr. Baggins was run ragged, having to keep going back and forth from the table to the kitchen to get a new plate, to his larder, and finally back to the table again so as to keep his _guests_ happy.

Luna looked at him sadly, feeling sorry for the little fellow, who didn't seem to have a clue what was going on. She and Harry had satisfied themselves with just tea. Not wanting to make things any more difficult for the Hobbit than they already were.

The dwarves ate and ate, and talked and talked, while Harry and Luna merely listened. At last the dwarves pushed their chairs back, and Bilbo made a move to collect the plates and glasses, But Luna said. "Oh let me do it Mr. Baggins. You've done enough for tonight, and I can get all of this cleaned up before you know it." Then with a wave of her wand, all the plates, cups, and all the crockery flew up in the air and out to the kitchen, where to the amazement of Mr. Baggins, they all started cleaning and drying themselves. In less than 10 minutes, everything was washed, dried and put away in the proper place.

When Bilbo went back into his living room, he found the dwarves, Gandalf and Harry sitting and listening to music. The dwarves had brought out different instruments and were all playing and singing.

The music seemed to awaken something Tookish in Mr. Baggins, and he wished to go and see the great mountains they were singing about, and hear the pine-trees and the waterfalls, and explore the caves, and where one went about wearing a sword instead of a carrying a walking-stick.

Suddenly he found that the music and the singing had stopped, and they were all looking at him. "Where are you going?" asked Thorin, when he saw that the hobbit had gotten up.

"What about a little light?" asked Bilbo.

"We like the dark," said the dwarves. "Dark for dark business!

"Of course!" said Bilbo, and sat down. But in his haste, he knocked over the poker and shovel next to his fireplace. It landed with a loud crash.

"Hush!" said Gandalf. "Let Thorin speak!" And Thorin began.

"Gandalf, dwarves, Mr. Baggins, Mr. Potter, and Miss Lovegood! We are all together in the house of our friend and fellow conspirator, this most excellent and audacious hobbit-may the hair on his toes never fall out! On behalf of us all I want to thank you for your most excellent hospitality." He raised his glass to Bilbo.

"We are met here to discuss our plans, policy and devices. We shall soon before the break of day start on our long journey, a journey from which some of us, or perhaps all of us may never return.

Our object is, I take it, well known to us all. To the estimable Mr. Baggins, and perhaps to Mr. Potter and Miss Lovegood for instance), the exact situation at the moment may require a little brief explanation-"

Thorin was all set to continue, but he was interrupted. Poor Bilbo couldn't bear it any longer. At may never return he began to feel a shriek coming up inside, and it soon it burst out like the whistle on a kettle. All the dwarves sprang up knocking over the table.

Gandalf struck a blue light on the end of his magic staff, and in its glare the poor little hobbit could be seen kneeling on the rug, shaking like a jelly that was melting.

"Excitable little fellow," said Gandalf, as they sat down again. "Gets funny

queer fits, but he is one of the best-as fierce as a dragon in a pinch."

_Oh yes Gandalf._ Harry thought. _He's as fierce as a dragon all right. In fact, if he gets any fiercer, he's going to shit himself!_

"Humph!" said Gloin. "It's all very well for Gandalf to talk about this hobbit being fierce, but one shriek like that in a moment of excitement would be enough to wake the dragon, and kill the lot of us. As soon as I clapped eyes on the little fellow bobbing and puffing on the mat, I had my doubts. He looks more like a grocer-than a burglar!"

Bilbo, upon hearing this comment, suddenly felt he would go without bed and breakfast to be thought fierce. The Took side of him had won out. As for little fellow bobbing on the mat it almost made him really fierce. There was many a time afterwards, when cold and hungry, the Baggins part regretted what he did now, and he said to himself: "Bilbo, you bloody fool; you walked right in and put your foot in it."

"You seem to think I'm no good. Well tell me what you want done, and I will try it, if I have to walk from here to the end of Middle Earth and fight the wild Were-worms in the Last Desert. I had a great-great-great-granduncle once, Bullroarer Took, and —"

"Yes, yes, but that was long ago," said Gloin. "I was talking about you. Gandalf told us that there was a man of the sort we need in these parts looking for a job at once. You can call yourself an Expert Treasure-hunter instead of Burglar if you like. Some do. It doesn't matter to us."

"Yes, and you asked me to find you a fourteenth man for your expedition, and I not only chose Mr. Baggins for you, but I also asked Mr. Potter and Miss Lovegood to go alone as well." Said Gandalf. "Just let anyone say I chose the wrong people, and you can stop at thirteen and have all the bad luck you like, or go back to digging coal and being poor.

Now, let's have no more argument. I have chosen Mr. Baggins and that ought to be enough for all of you. If I say he is a Burglar, a Burglar he is, or will be when the time comes. There is a lot more in him, in all three of them in fact than you guess. You may possibly all live to thank me. Now Bilbo, my boy, fetch the lamp, and let's have little light on this!"

After Bilbo had brought him a lamp, Gandalf spread out a piece of parchment. "This was made by Thror, your grandfather, Thorin, he said in answer to the dwarves' excited questions. "It is a plan of the Mountain, and it shows a hidden passage to the Lower Halls."

Also," went on Gandalf, "I forgot to mention that with the map went a key, here it is!" he said, and handed to Thorin a key with a long barrel. "Keep it safe!"

"Now things begin to look more hopeful." Said Thorin. "This map and key will make things easier. We had had no clear idea what to do. We thought of going East, as quiet and careful as we could, as far as the Long Lake. After that the trouble would begin.

We thought about going up along the River Running," went on Thorin, "and so to the ruins of Dale, under the shadow of the Mountain. But we none of us liked the idea of the Front Gate. The river runs right out of it through the great cliff South of the Mountain."

"That would be no good," said the wizard, "not without a mighty Warrior,

even a Hero. I tried to find one; but warriors are busy fighting one another in

distant lands, and in this neighborhood heroes are scarce, or simply not to be

found. That is why I originally settled on burglary-especially when I

remembered the existence of a Side-door, and it is only because of some extraordinary luck that I came across Mr. Potter and Miss Lovegood here. So now let's get on and make some plans."

But Thorin interrupted him before he could continue. "Yes, about them. I don't mean to be rude, but they don't look old enough to be involved in something like this. In fact Miss Lovegood, besides being a female, doesn't look more than sixteen years of age, if she's even that."

"Mr. Potter and Miss Lovegood are more than capably of taking care of them selves Thorin. In fact…" But this time it was Harry who interrupted him.

"Gandalf, we can both speak for ourselves." Then turning to Thorin he said. "First of all Thorin Oakenshield, neither Luna or myself have agreed to come on this expedition yet. We told Gandalf that we would listen to what you had to say and then decide. Luna is a very powerful witch, and I'm an even more powerful wizard. Also, both of us are heavily trained in combat magic." Harry paused to let that part sink in a bit. "Now from what I've heard tonight in your songs, this dragon drove out and killed most of your people from this mountain on the map, and took all your treasure, correct?"

"It is." Thorin said.

"Alright, so the most dangerous part will be the dragon itself, and I've faced a dragon twice already, and lived to talk about it. I've also fought and killed one of the most powerful dark wizards ever seen in our world, as well as many of his followers. And Luna, despite her gentle nature, defeated his second in command, one of the most powerful dark witches alive. So between the two of us, I think we can handle a dragon."

Thorin wasn't used to being put in his place, and he didn't like it. But for the moment, he didn't say anything. "And what do the two of you want for your services?" he finally asked.

A light clicked in Harry's mind. "So that's what this is all about? You're afraid your share of the profits will be less if you have to share them with two extra people?"

Thorin didn't answer, but Harry and Luna saw right away that he was right.

"I already have more gold than I'll be able to spend in ten life times. I don't need any more. In fact we only agreed to consider helping you as a favor to Gandalf. But if you don't want us there, that's fine with us. Good luck to you."

Harry and Luna both got up and started towards the door. It was Bilbo however that stopped them. "If they're not going then neither am I. I'm a _burglar, _not a dragon hunter." He said, the Tookish side of him in full control.

"Wait," Thorin said. "Please don't leave." Then looking like he was in great pain, he added. "We dwarves are a very proud people. We are raised to solve our own problems by ourselves, and we don't like to ask others for help. Even when we know we need it. I'm sorry if I sounded…haughty just now, but I'm supposed to be a King to my people, a warrior, and a King is supposed to be strong for his people all the time. To ask for help from outsiders, is not something I am used to. I hope you can understand this."

Harry and Luna looked at him, and it was Luna that spoke. "Actually we _do_ understand. More than you'll ever know. Nobody likes to admit they need help to do something, especially when they have others that they're responsible for."

"Will you go with us, and help us to get our Kingdom back?" Thorin asked.

But neither Harry nor Luna answered him. Instead Luna said to Harry. "Will you come outside with me so we can discuss this Harry?"

"Of course Luna." and then said to the group. "We'll be back after we've talked about it, and we'll give you our answer." And the two left.

-=ooo000ooo=-

Outside in Bilbo's garden, Harry was looking up at the night sky. "It's amazing you know Luna, the stars you can see at night when there's no light pollution from the cities."

"Yes it is beautiful isn't it." She answered, looking up at the stars. "You want to help them don't you?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah, I think we should. If we don't, it'll be a bloodbath when they face the dragon. We're the only ones here that have the power to stop it. But I don't want you to go just because of what I think. We're in this together, and unless we both agree, I won't go."

Looking thoughtful, Luna replied, "Someone once told me "_With great power, goes great responsibility." _I think we should help them as well. I can't bear the thought of that poor little hobbit getting killed. He really has no idea what he's gotten himself into does he?"

"Not a bloody clue." Harry said with a laugh. "By the way Luna, who told you that thing about power and responsibility?"

"Professor Dumbledore." She said with a smile.

"Oh way to go helping me make up my mind Luna." Harry said, trying to keep a fake scowl on his face, and not succeeding. "And speaking of Dumbledore, isn't it weird how much he and Gandalf look alike, right down to the garish clothes?"

"I've been wondering about that as well. I wonder if the Headmaster ever came to this world when he was younger, and met Gandalf?"

"I wonder. It's something we'll have to ask Gandalf about during the trip. You think we've let them stew long enough?"

"I think so. But I don't really want to go back in. It's too beautiful out here."

"I know what you mean. I was thinking when we were walking along the road that I could live here you know. Build a house, find a wife and start a family. I could be happy here."

"I could as well. Maybe we can discuss that later." And with that Luna turned and stated back to the Hobbit hole. "You coming?" she asked, looking over her shoulder and seeing Harry standing there with his mouth open, but no sound coming out. Luna turned and continued back to the hole, a smile on her face and thinking. _Too easy._

-=ooo000ooo=-

When Harry and Luna re-entered Bilbo's living room, every eye turned to face them.

"We talked about it," Harry began. "And we'll go with you and do what we can to help get your Kingdom back." Luna finished.

Thorin, as well as Gandalf, seemed to sag with relief. "So we'll divide the treasure sixteen ways when and if we get it. If that's acceptable?" Thorin asked.

"No." Harry said. "I meant what I said before Thorin. I don't need any more gold. But I do want to make sure Bilbo gets his fair share."

"He'll get it." Thorin assured him. "But are you sure? You're turning down a great deal of treasure."

"I'm sure." Harry replied. "But if you want, you can give us each something small to remember the trip by. Do we have an Agreement?"

"We do." Thorin replied. "Thank you."

Thorin got up and made his way over to Bilbo. "Mr. Baggins, again, I think you for your hospitality tonight. Well take our leave of you now and we'll meet you at the Green Dragon Inn at nine tomorrow morning if that is acceptable?"

"That will be fine." Bilbo replied, still not too sure what he had gotten himself into.

"Mr. Baggins," Harry began. "Would it be alright if we stayed here with you tonight? If you have the room that is?"

"I have one guest room, if you and Miss Lovegood don't mind sharing it." Bilbo replied.

"No, that's okay." Harry managed to stammer out. "Luna can have the room and I'll just conjure something to sleep on out here. I can change it back in the morning." Bilbo nodded and went off to get the guest room ready

"You sure Harry? I don't mind sharing a room with you." She said innocently.

"I've been told I snore Luna. I'd just keep you awake."

"Well if you're sure. I'll see you in the morning then." And before he could do anything she stretched out and kissed him on the cheek. "Goodnight." and then went off to find Bilbo.

Harry sat down with a thump. "Merlin help me." He said.


	4. Chapter 4  Roast Mutton

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Chapter 4: Roast Mutton

When Harry awoke the next morning, he didn't know where he was. He sat up quickly, put on his glasses, and looked around the room he was in, and the bed he was in. Well bed didn't really describe it. It was really more of an army cot. Then it all came back. The Room of Requirement, Luna, the archway, and the dwarves. He fell back down on his pillow. "Bloody hell." He muttered to himself.

After a few moments he slowly got up, and stretched. "I hope Luna got a better sleep than I did." As he picked up his wand from the table he had placed in on before going to sleep. With a swish, the cot was transfigured back into Bilbo's chair.

Evidently Mr. Baggins was already up and about, as he chose that moment to come into the room. "Oh good, you're awake Mr. Potter." He said.

"Please, just call me Harry, and I know Luna would want you to call her by her first name as well." Harry said with a yawn. "I'm sorry. Not fully awake yet I guess."

"Oh not to worry Mr….Harry. I have the tea on, and there are fresh crumpets, some ham and eggs, sausages, as well as toast, jam, honey, and other thing set out for breakfast."

"Thank you Bilbo, but you didn't have to go to all that trouble to make all that for us. Tea and toast would have been fine."

"It's no trouble. I only made what I usually make every morning."

"What you usually make?" Harry asked. "But don't you live alone?"

"Yes I do." Bilbo answered. "But Hobbits like a good first breakfast in the morning, and if we're going to set out to the Green Dragon Inn later, we'll need something to tide us over."

"Yeah, about that," Harry began. "I wanted to ask you about this 'adventure' as Gandalf calls it. Do you really want to go? I mean, you sounded last night like you were being forced into something you didn't want anything to do with."

"Well," Bilbo began, "at first I didn't. I just didn't say anything because of Gandalf. He can be quite imposing when he wants to be. But I thought about it last night in bed, and I decided that a very big part of me wants to go. I guess it's the Took side of my family coming out. I'm just glad you and you're friend Luna are coming along as well. With your magic, I don't think we'll be in any danger, and this will all be like a vacation."

Harry listened to all this, and thought about what Gandalf had told him and Luna on the way to Bag End. He definitely didn't think it would be a vacation. The wild regions of Middle Earth were still the wild, as Gandalf put it, and it's fraught with dangers. Something the dwarves no doubt knew as well. He made a mental note to watch out for the little hobbit as best he could.

"Well, I don't know about it being a vacation, but it shouldn't be too bad a trip." Harry yawned again. "What time is it anyway?" he asked.

"Oh it's just past seven o'clock. Rather late for me. I usually start my day at dawn, but we were up late last night. You know it was nearly 10 when we got to bed?" Asked Bilbo, who seemed to think 10pm was VERY late.

"Ten o'clock? Really?" Harry asked. "Well, that explains why I was so tired I suppose. But we should get also try to get used to it as we're most likely going to be up much later than that at times in the coming months."

"Later than 10?. Oh my! I'll have to speak to Thorin about that." Said Bilbo. "Adventures are fine, as long as nobody finds out about them that is, but staying up to all hours of the night…that just wont do."

"I wouldn't worry about it too much Bilbo. I'm sure we'll all be getting plenty of sleep on the trip. " said Harry. "And speaking of sleep, is Luna up yet?"

"Yes I am." Came a voice from across the room.

Harry turned and saw Luna coming into the room. "Good morning Luna. Did you sleep well?"

"Wonderfully. In fact, it was the best nights sleep I've gotten in months." Luna told them dreamily. "Mr. Baggins, what kind of mattress was that I was sleeping on? It was like sleeping on a cloud."

"Just a normal goose down one." Bilbo replied. "Don't they have mattresses like that where you come from?"

"Not like that no." Luna answered. "The mattresses we have all have springs in them and they can be rather hard."

"Springs? Iron springs?" Bilbo asked shocked. "Why would anybody put iron like that in a mattress? They'd poke you in the back and keep you awake all night. I think you and Harry both come from a very strange world Miss Lovegood."

Luna smiled. "Sometimes I thing the same thing Mr. Baggins, and please, call me Luna."

"Then you must call me Bilbo Luna. Now, we were just going to sit down and have breakfast. Will you join us?"

"I'd love to Bilbo. I'm actually more hungry than I thought."

-=ooo000ooo=-

Breakfast with a hobbit was something new for Harry and Luna. It was as if someone had crushed down Ron Weasley to half his normal size, but left his stomach the same.

By the time they were done, Bilbo had managed to pack away as much, or more than Harry and Luna had eaten between them. It was just past 8am before they were finished, and Luna, using magic again, had cleaned up all the pans and crockery and had it all put away.

Bilbo had packed a few important things for the trip. Fresh clothes, a cloak, his pipe and tobacco, and some handkerchiefs. This wasn't a problem for either Harry or Luna as they could transfigure anything they needed into clothes as they needed them. They did however borrow two cloaks from Bilbo and after enlarging them considerably, they were ready to set off for the Green Dragon Inn to meet Thorin and Company, as well as Gandalf, who had told all of them the night before that he would be able to accompany them at least part of the was on their journey before he had to leave for his meeting with the White Council.

They met the dwarves at the Green Dragon in Bywater with plenty of time to spare, and found that wouldn't have to walk as they had thought. The dwarves had gotten a troop of ponies both for them to ride, and to carry their supplies. They had also managed to get two normal horses for Harry and Luna. Harry thought they looked like the horses that had been pulling Gandalf's cart.

-=ooo000ooo=-

The journey East from Bywater went pleasantly enough for the group. The dwarves often sang as they rode, providing a great deal of entertainment for Luna and Harry, not to mention a great deal of information, not only about the dwarves in general, but of the wider world of Middle Earth. Gandalf also filled them in on much of the history of the first and second age, which by this time were thousands of years in the past. Bilbo too listened in on these conversations because next to maps, history was one of his favourite subjects, and he very rarely got to learn anything beyond what directly concerned the Hobbits of the Shire.

And so it was that after four days of travel, the found themselves in the town of Bree. A place Bilbo had only heard about, and a village that to his surprise contained hobbits and big people living side by side. They spent the night at an Inn called The Prancing Pony, and then after replenishing some of their supplies, set off the next morning.

At first things had gone well. Bilbo had started wondering why he had been so worried about adventures. They seemed to be having a fine time indeed, and except for the dwarves not stopping for meals as often as he would have liked, he was mostly content.

But as they pressed on, things he started to notice, began to get steadily worse. First there were no more Inns, and the buildings they did pass were mostly old castles that seemed to have been abandoned ages ago. Most of them Bilbo thought had an evil look to them, and he was glad they hadn't stopped near them to spend the night. The roads as well got worse. When they had left Bree, the road had been wide and clearly defined. Now he saw that it was little more than a trail, hardly wide enough for two ponies to walk side by side.

But it was the weather that caused most of his misery. When they had started out from Bywater, it was the middle of May, and the weather had been as good as May could be. But now June was approaching, and the weather had turned cold and wet. In fact it had been raining for the past two days. Bilbo's hood kept dripping water down into his eyes, his cloak was filled with water, and both he and his pony were tired from trudging through mud all day. _And I'm sure the rain has gotten into the dry clothes and food bags._ He thought to himself. _Bother burgling and everything to do with it. I wish I was back home in my nice hole by the fire, with the kettle just beginning to sing! _It was not the last time that he would wish this!

Harry and Luna however, were faring better. Harry had charmed both their cloaks to repel water, so they at least were dry. Luna also helped keep his spirits up because, as he found out, Luna loved the rain. That, and because she was so much more in tune with nature than the rest of them, she was able to see something new and exciting everywhere she looked.

It was on their eighth day out of Bree that the first of their trouble really started. The rain had let up that day, but it was still cold and damp when they came at night to a river. It was swollen with the rains of the last few days, and the dwarves knew they would have to be careful when they crossed it the next morning. They had made their camp that night 100 yards from the river in a thick clump of trees, where, they hoped they would be able to stay dry if it started raining again during the night. It did.

The rain started up again a few hours after they went to sleep, but it was the lightning that was the worst. It flashed across the sky in great flashes of violence that caused everyone to wince with each bolt. One of their pack ponies took fright at one particularly loud crack, and bolted into the swollen river, and before they could get him out again, Fili and Kili nearly drowned, and all the baggage that it carried was washed away. Of course it was mostly food, and the company now found that unless they could forage for more, they would have very little to eat in the coming days.

They were all discussing this problem, when Balin, who was always their look-out man, said: "I see a light over there!" Everyone looked to where he was pointing, and sure enough, a bright, warm looking fire could be seen through the trees. They all stared at it for some time, with the dwarves arguing whether or not they should investigate it or not.

"These parts are not too well known, and are too near the mountains. Travelers seldom come this way now, and the old maps are of no use." Said Balin. "They have seldom even heard of the king, and the less inquisitive you are as you go along, the less trouble you are likely to find." He added.

It was then that they all noticed that Gandalf was missing.

Finally Thorin said, "We don't have to worry." After all we have got an expert burglar with us, as well as two other wizards." He said, indicating Harry and Luna. "But for now, it's the burglar's turn," and turning to the hobbit said "You must go on and find out all about that light, and what it is for, and if it's safe for us to approach," said Thorin to the hobbit. "Now scuttle off, and come back quick, if all is well. If not, come back if you can! It you can't, hoot twice like a barn-owl and once like a screech-owl, and we will do what we can."

Bilbo was about to try and explain to Thorin that he didn't know how to hoot like either a barn or a screech owl when he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry Bilbo," said Harry. "I'll go with you." And then turning to Luna added quietly. "I don't know where Gandalf has gone off to Luna, but would you stay here and watch the dwarves so that they don't do anything stupid?"

"Just as long as _you_ don't do something stupid Harry." she replied.

"And when have you ever known me to do something stupid?" he asked with a smile.

"Yeah right!" she answered. "Just be careful."

"Always."

-=ooo000ooo=-

Harry cast a silencing spell on himself so as not to make any noise as he approached the firelight. He was going to do the same for Bilbo, but noticed that he didn't have to. The Hobbit seemed to be naturally stealthy, without any outside help. So it was that they were able to get right up to the what they now saw was a cam and campfire.

Around this fire Harry saw there were three _VERY_ large…persons, that Harry guessed were some of troll. The three were talking and arguing amongst themselves.

"Mutton yesterday, mutton today, and bloody 'ell, if it don't look like mutton again tomorrer too," said one of the trolls.

"We haven't ad a blinking bit of manflesh fer long enough," said a second. "What the 'ell William was a-thinkin' of to bring us into these parts at all,

beats me – that and the drink runnin' short." he said jogging the elbow of

William, who was taking a pull at his jug.

William choked. "Shut yer gob!" he said as soon as he could. "Yer can't

expect folk to stop here for ever just to be et by you and Bert. You've et the better part of a village and a half between yer, since we come down from the mountains. How much more do d'yer want?" he said, wiping his mouth on his sleeve.

"We should try and get the meat they're toasting." Harry whispered to Bilbo. "I'll creep around to the other side of their camp and make some noise. I should be able to get them all to follow me. When they do, you creep in, grab the meat off the fire, and get back to the dwarves camp. Okay?"

"What about you though? Will you be alright?" Bilbo asked.

"Don't worry about me Bilbo. I've dealt with trolls before." Harry replied, thinking about the incident in his first year.

Bilbo nodded and Harry started to make his way around the edge of the firelight. Finally he got to the other side of the camp where he removed the silencing spell on his feet, and started to rustle the bushes. He also broke a few twigs. This of course got the attention of the trolls.

"What the 'ell is that?" William asked.

"Sounds like someone moving through the woods." Said the troll named Bert.

"Well lets go look. Maybe it's sumpting we can eat that's better than mutton." Said the third troll who was named Tom.

The three got up and started off towards the noise Harry was making and soon the camp was deserted. Bilbo crept into their camp and started taking the mutton leg off the fire. He had finally gotten it loose, (It was heavier than it looked) when he felt a large hand grab him around the neck and lift him up off the ground.

"Blimey, Bert, get back ere. look what I've copped!" said William.

"What is it?" said Bert, coming back into the firelight.

"Bugger me, if I knows! What are yer?"

"Bilbo Baggins, a bur— a hobbit," said poor Bilbo, shaking all over, and wondering how he was going to get out of this mess before they throttled him.

"A burrahobbit?" said they a bit startled. Trolls aren't very bright, and tend to be very suspicious about anything new to them.

"What's a burrahobbit got to do with our food, anyways?" said William.

"And can yer cook 'em?" said Tom.

"Yer can try," said Bert, picking up a very sharp looking skewer.

"He wouldn't make more than a mouthful," said William, who had already had a fine supper, "not after he was skinned and boned."

"P'raps we might make a pie if there's more like him round about," said

Bert. "Here you, are there any more of your sort a-sneakin' in these here woods?"he said looking at the hobbit.

"Yes, lots," said Bilbo, before he remembered not to give his friends away.

"No, none at all." he said immediately afterwards.

"What d'yer mean?" said Bert, holding him up by the hair and shaking him .

"What I'm saying," said Bilbo with a gasp, "Is that I'm all alone here and I was hungry. So I tried to get some of your mutton."

"Poor little bugger," said William. He had already had as much supper as he

could hold; also he had had lots of beer. "Poor little bugger! Let him go!"

"Not till he says what he means by lots and none at all," said Bert. "I don't

want to wake up and find me throat cut in me sleep. Hold his toes in the fire, till he talks!"

"I won't have it," said William. "I caught him anyway."

"You're a bloody fool, William," said Bert, "as I've said afore this evening."

"And you're a lout!"

"And I won't take that from you. Bill Huggins," says Bert, and puts his fist in

William's eye.

Then there was a gorgeous fight. Bilbo had just enough wits left, when Bert

dropped him, to scramble out of the way and into the woods where he was grabbed by the now returned Harry.

"Shhhh!" Harry said to him. "Are you alright?"

"Just a bit knocked around. Otherwise I'm fine." Bilbo whispered to him. "What should we do?"

"Let's let them fight for now. Dawn's nearly here, and if these trolls are anything like the trolls back home, they'll turn to stone when the sunlight hits them."

Bilbo nodded, and then turned his attention back to the fighting trolls, who were still fighting like cats dogs, and calling one another all sorts of perfectly true and applicable names in very loud voices. Soon they were locked in one another's arms, and rolling nearly into the fire kicking and thumping each other.

Right in the middle of the fight up came Balin. The dwarves had heard the sounds of the fight, and despite Luna trying to stop them, they started off one by one to creep towards the light as quietly as they could to see what the noise was all about and to help if they could.

No sooner did Tom see Balin come into the light than he gave a shout. Trolls simply detest the very sight of dwarves (uncooked). Bert and Bill stopped fighting at once, and "Get a sack, Tom, quick!" they said, and before Balin knew what was happening, a sack was over his head, and he was down.

"There's more to come yet," said Tom, "or I'm mighty mistook. Dwarves don't travel alone." said he. "No burra- hobbits, but lots of these here dwarves. That's about the shape of it!"

"I reckon you're right," said Bert, "and we'd best get out of the light."

Harry turned to Bilbo and whispered. "Bilbo, go around and warn the others not to come into the camp. I'll try to rescue Balin."

"Alright." He said and started creeping off in the direction Balin had come from. He hadn't gone far when he met Thorin. "It's trolls!" whispered Bilbo. "They're hiding in the bushes with sacks, and they plan to grab all of you as you come into they're camp." He told Thorin.

"O! are they?" said Thorin, and he jumped forward to the firelight. But before they could jump on him, he grabbed a big branch from the campfire; and Bert got that end in his eye before he could step aside. That put him out of the fight for a bit. Bilbo did his best to help. He caught hold of Tom's leg-as well as he could, it was as thick as a young tree-trunk, and ended up being sent spinning up into some bushes, when Tom kicked the sparks up in Thorin's face. He got the branch in his teeth for that, and lost the two front ones. It did not improve his mood. But just at that moment William came up behind and popped a sack right over Thorin's head and down to his toes. And so the fight ended.

Harry had been watching all this from the side but had been afraid to cast any spells in case he hit either Thorin or Bilbo. Where the hell was Gandalf when you needed him?

-=ooo000ooo=-

Gandalf, as it turned out was not too far away, and had in fact gotten back to see the end of the fight. He couldn't see any more of the Dwarves or the Potter lad, but he could sense him nearby.

-=ooo000ooo=-

Harry listened as the trolls started arguing about whet to do with Balin and Thorin. The argument looked like it was going to end in another fight, but finally they decided that they would sit on and squash the dwarves, and then make them into a pie which they would have for their breakfast (or dinner) the next night.

"Who shall we sit on first?" said a voice that sounded like Tom.

"Better sit on the second fellow first," said Bert, whose eye had been damaged by Thorin. He thought Tom was talking.

"Don't talk to yerself!" said Tom. "But if you wants to sit on the second one, sit on him. Which is he?"

"The one with the yellow stockings," said Bert.

"Bollocks! It's the one with the grey stockings," said a voice like William's.

"I made sure it was yellow," said Bert.

"Yellow it was," said William.

"Then what did yer say it was grey for?" said Bert.

"I never did. Tom said it."

"That I never did!" said Tom. "It was you."

"Two to one, so shut yer mouth!" said Bert.

"Who are you a-talkin' to?" said William.

"Now stop it!" said Tom and Bert together. "The night's gettin' on, and dawn

comes early. Let's get on with it!"

Harry had just stated to understand what was going on when a loud, booming voice called out

"Dawn take you all, and be stone to you!"

As the voice said this, the light came over the hill, and there was a mighty twitter in the branches. William never spoke for he stood turned to stone as he stooped; and Bert and Tom were stuck like rocks as they looked at him.

"Excellent!" said Gandalf, as he stepped from behind a tree, and helped Bilbo

to climb down out of a thorn-bush. "Are you alright Mr. Baggins?" he asked Bilbo. "Not too badly shaken up?"

Bilbo, not believing that he had made it out of this mess alive, simply nodded.

"And what about you Mr. Potter? All is well with you I hope?"

"I'm alright." Said Harry, stepping back into the firelight. "But where were you? We could have used your help."

"I was off looking ahead." replied Gandalf.

"And what brought you back in time?" asked Bilbo, talking for the first time since the old wizard had re-appeared.

"Looking back." He answered simply.

Suddenly Bilbo understood what Harry had gotten earlier. It was the Wizard's voice that had kept the trolls bickering and quarrelling, until the light came and put an end of them.

Harry raised his wand and muttered something Bilbo couldn't catch, and he saw to his surprise a large stag shoot out of his wand and go running off through the woods.

"What was that?" he asked Harry.

"Just a message to Luna, to tell her and the others that it's safe to approach." He answered

The next thing was to untie the sacks and let out Balin and Thorin. They had nearly been suffocated, and were both very annoyed: they had not at all enjoyed lying there listening to the trolls making plans for making them into a pie, and had to hear Bilbo's and Harry's account of what had happened to them twice over, before they were satisfied.

By this time Luna and the rest of them had arrived, and Gandalf said "The trolls must have a cave or a hole dug somewhere near here to hide from the sun in. We must try to find it!"

They searched around, and soon Ori found a big door of stone leading into a cave. But they could not open it, not even they all pushed on it. Gandalf tried various spells, but he couldn't get the door to open either.

Finally, Luna stepped up and pointing her wand at the door said "_Alohomora!"_

The door seemed to shake a little, but remained shut. Luna tried again, with the same results. "Harry you try. You're powerful than I am, so maybe you can get it to open."

Harry took out his wand and pointing it at the stone door said _"Alohomora!"_

The door shook more violently this time but still refused to open. Harry sighed and put his wand back into his cloak, and took out another. This wand was white, and very intricately carved.

Harry," said Luna, whose eyes had gone wide. "Isn't that Professor Dumbledore's wand?"

Harry nodded.

"But it was buried with him. How did you get it?" she asked

"It's a long story Luna, and I tell you the whole thing at a later time. But for now, this is the Elder Wand, and Dumbledore won it from Grindelwald when he defeated him in 1945. If this can't open the door, nothing can." And then pointing the wand at the door repeated _"Alohomora!"_

There was a loud *click* and the door shifted inwards about an inch. Harry pushed it open, and they all went inside. All that is save for Luna. She was standing at the entrance way, a thoughtful look on her face. Harry could see she was thinking about the Elder Wand, could almost see the wheels turning in her head, and wasn't at all surprised when she suddenly looked up at him, a look of shock on her face. Harry saw her mouth the words _"The Hallows?"_

He nodded, and she came inside.

They found many old bones piled here and there around the cave, and a very nasty smell was in the air. They also found a great deal of food in the cave. Most of it up on shelves. They also found a great many pots full of gold coins standing in a corner. There was also a large assortment of clothes hanging on the walls; too small for trolls, and Harry figured they belonged to the victims of the trolls. Among the clothes, were several swords of various makes, and sizes. Three caught their eyes particularly, because of their beautiful scabbards and jewelled hilts, and in Harry's case, because the blade of one was completely black. Gandalf and Thorin each took one of these; and Bilbo took a dagger in a leather sheath. It would have been too small for the others, but it was as good as a short sword for the hobbit.

"These look like good blades," said the wizard, half drawing them and looking at them with a raised eyebrow. "They were not made by trolls, or by any smith among men in these parts and days; but when we can read the runes on them, we shall know more about them."

Harry looked at the sword blades and said. "Luna, you took ancient runes. Can you read these?"

Luna looked at the runes that were inscribed on the blades and shook her head. "No I can't. Some of the runes look failure, but most are unlike anything I ever seen."

"Elrond should be able to read them. He's the greatest lore master of the age, and we'll be at Rivendell within a week." Gandalf said finally.

"Until them, let's get out of this horrible smell!" said Fili.

So they carried out the pots of coins, and all the food that looked fit to eat, also carried out one barrel of ale which was still full and sealed. But before they all left, Harry asked Luna. "Do you want one of the swords Luna? There are still one or two that look like good ones."

"No I don't think so." Luna replied. "I have my wand," and then almost as an afterthought said, "and I have you."

Harry blushed slightly at this, but didn't say anything, and together, they left the trolls cave. Happy to get back out into the fresh air.

"Harry," Luna began. And Harry thought she was going to bring up the Hallows and the wand. But she didn't. Instead she asked. "why did you pick that rusted old sword? There were other there that looked like they were in much better shape"

Harry pulled the old sword out of its scabbard and held it up. "It's not rusty Luna. It's almost like the black finishes I've seen on military weapons." He saw she didn't know what he was talking about. "Dudley used to have a bayonet from the Vietnam war that had a black finish on it, and this looks something like it. The blades were coated with something to help prevent them from rusting, and this sword looks like how they must have looked when they were new."

Luna nodded her understanding. "So you took it because it wouldn't rust?" she asked.

"No I took it cause it looked cool." Harry said with a laugh.

-=ooo000ooo=-

By the time the Dwarves got everything out of the cave, they felt like breakfast, and being very hungry, they didn't turn their noses up at what they had gotten from the cave. Their own provisions had been few. Now they had bread and cheese, and plenty of ale, and bacon to toast in the embers of the fire. In the end, they were all content with their late supper, even Bilbo.

After that they slept, they brought up their ponies, and carried away the pots of gold, and buried them secretly not far from the track by the river, putting a great many spells over them, just in case they ever had the chance to come back and recover them. When that was done, they all mounted up again and continued on the path towards the East.


	5. Chapter 5  A Short Rest

A/N: Thanks to everyone who sent in reviews and or comments. I'm trying to something different with this. That is, write a decent crossover story. It's up to you, the readers, if I succeed. So let me know

Chapter 5: A Short Rest

The next two days went without incident for Thorin and Company. The weather had gotten better, but everyone seemed to feel that the further they went, the closer they got to danger. They camped under the stars, but they were still going to sleep hungry. Despite what they had gotten from the trolls cave, things were still tight food wise, and being late May, it was still far to early for berries and nuts, so all they could do was tighten their belts until they got to Rivendell.

It was mid day on the forth day since their encounter with the trolls, when they saw a large hill in the distance which seemed to have the ruins of a castle on it. "What's that Gandalf?" Harry asked, pointing to the hill.

"That is the ruins of a watchtower that was known of old as Amon Sûl. The hill is called Weathertop." Explained Gandalf. "It was built in the second age of Middle Earth, and at one time it stood over one hundred feet tall. But now all that remains is a ring of stone where the base was."

"The second age?" Luna asked. "What age is Middle Earth in now, if the tower is from the second?"

"This is the third age of Middle Earth Miss Lovegood. The second age lasted for 3441 years, and ended with the fall of the Dark Lord Sauron at the hands of Elendil and Gil-galad. This is the year 2941 of the Third Age." He told her.

"It kind of reminds you of Stonehenge." Harry said after staring at the ruins for a while. "Doesn't it?" he asked Luna.

"It does a bit." Luna replied. "They're both about the same age, but the Henge still has a lot of magical power in it. This is just rubble. Still it would be interesting to explore it. Do we have time Gandalf?"

"Alas, no my dear. Maybe on the way back. But for now, with the food as low as it is. I want to get to Rivendell as soon as we can." Gandalf answered.

-=ooo000ooo=-

That night they camped by the edge of a river. The group had been much happier that night, because they had a good meal. A deer had jumped out of the bushes at them that day and crossed their path unexpectedly. Both Harry and Luna had drawn their wands in an instant, and Harry had fired off a cutting curse before he even realized he was doing it.

The spell hit the deer cleanly in the neck and killed it instantly.

The dwarves had just stood there and stared at him, mouths open. Gandalf however, just looked thoughtful. He had believed Harry and Luna when they told him about the war they had gone through in their world, but he also believed that they had exaggerated their roll a great deal. But now, after seeing how fast they had both reacted, he wasn't so sure.

It was only Bilbo that seemed to be a bit frightened by what he's seen. Like Gandalf, he realized that Harry and Luna had reacted instinctively, and he began to wonder just what kind of people these two were, and what they had gone through to make them react as they did.

He was still thinking about this the next day, and not really watching where he was going. He had just been following behind the dwarves, when he looked up and saw them. Mountains! "Is that the mountain?" he asked the dwarves. "The one we're headed for?"

"Of course not!" said Balin. "That is only the beginning of the Misty Mountains. We have to get through, or over, or under them somehow before

we come into Wilderland beyond. And even then, we're still not even half way there. It's a deal farther to the Lonely Mountain in the East where Smaug lies sleeping on our treasure."

"Oh." Bilbo said. Disappointment clearly in his voice, and he again thought of his comfortable chair in front of the fire back in his Hobbit hole.

Now Gandalf had taken over leading them. "We must not miss the road, or we shall be done for," he said. "We need food, for one thing, and a safe place to rest-also it is very necessary to tackle the Misty Mountains by the proper path, or else you will get lost in them, and have to come back and start at the beginning again (if you get back at all)."

"How bad are the mountains?" Harry asked him. He had been awe-struck when he first saw them. They looked like they were even bigger than the North American Rockies, and they seemed to stretch from horizon to horizon.

"There are trolls, and goblins that live deep in the mountains." Gandalf told him. "The trolls are much like the ones you saw earlier, and unless we're surprised by them, we shouldn't have too much trouble with them. It's the goblins we have to worry about. They're fierce, very dangerous, and they detest dwarves and men." Then looking at both Harry and Luna added, "If we come across them, don't hesitate to use your wands. If you do, you might not get a second chance."

"We understand." Luna said solemnly.

"How far are we from this Rivendell you're been telling us about?" Harry asked him.

"Not far now. Hidden somewhere ahead of us is the valley of Rivendell where Elrond lives in the Last Homely House. I sent a message to my friends there just before we left Hobbiton, and we are expected."

But it was nightfall the next night before they found it. There were moths fluttering about, and the light had become very dim, for the moon had not yet risen, when they came to the edge of a steep fall in the ground so suddenly that Gandalf's horse nearly slipped down the slope.

"Here it is at last!" he called, and the others gathered round him and looked

over the edge. They in the valley below, they could see lights, and hear the sound of hurrying water in rocky bed at the bottom, and the scent of pine trees was in the air.

It took them some time however to transverse the trail down into the valley. For one thing it was very steep, and with only the light of the moon to help guide them, very dangerous. This was made easier when both Harry and Luna pulled out and lit their wands, and Gandalf, seeing this, did the same with his staff. But still, they had to be careful.

Eventually though, they all made it safe and sound to the valley floor. The air had gotten warmer as they got lower, and the smell of the trees had gotten stronger. Finally they came to a stream. "This is the Ford of Bruinen. It marks the boundary of Rivendell." Gandalf told the group.

Harry could hear faint singing in the distance, but they were too far away for him to make out the words. As they crossed the ford however, he felt them pass through a ward. A very powerful one. He look up and saw that Luna had detected it as well. "There's very strong magic protecting this valley Harry."

She whispered to him. "The wards are even stronger than the one's around Hogwarts."

"I know." He replied. "I felt them as we passed through. I'd hate to be an enemy trying to cross them."

-=ooo000ooo=-

As the troop rode up to the main house, they were met by a tall figure, dressed in green. "Welcome to the Valley Master Gandalf," he said with a bow, and then turning to Harry and Luna added "And welcome to you also Mr. Potter, Miss Lovegood. Master Elrond is expecting all of you up at the main house. Please follow me."

With that, the figure strode off towards the house, with Gandalf and the rest of the group following. Harry pulled his horse up next to Gandalf as they were riding and asked in a low voice. "Ah, Gandalf. This may be a stupid question, but is that an elf?" Indicating the green clad figure they were following.

"Indeed yes." Gandalf replied. "But I thought you would have known that. Didn't you tell me you had elves in your world?"

"We do." Harry answered, "but they don't look anything like him. The elves

In our world are short creatures, with big eyes, and bat like ears. These elves look more like regular people than the ones in our world."

"Well the elves have been here since the beginning of the second age, and they mostly keep to themselves, and though there are exceptions, they only meet men when they have no choice."

Harry looked questionly at Gandalf when he said this.

"It's because the history between the two peoples hasn't been the best." Gandalf explained. "Men feared the elves because of their power, and the elves found men to be largely untrustworthy. The same is true of their feelings for the dwarves, though to a greater extent."

"So should we really be coming here if the two peoples don't like each other?" Harry asked.

"Not to worry Mr. Potter. Thorin's ancestors, the dwarves of the race of Durin, while they usually avoided the elves, never had any real disagreements with them. They just preferred to keep to themselves. As well, Lord Elrond is known as the Half Eleven because is half mortal, and is far more tolerant of dwarves and men than many other of his kind. "

"And what about Luna and myself?" Harry asked.

"Unless you give him cause to do otherwise, he will treat you both as any other guests in his house. Do not worry Mr. Potter, you will have naught to worry about while under his roof. It's only after we leave and start through the mountains that we will have to be on our guard."

Harry pondered this. He didn't know anything about these people, but would ask Luna what her impressions of them were. He had come to realize that she had an insight into people that he could never match.

-=ooo000ooo=-

As Gandalf had promised, Harry didn't find anything that made him worry about either his or Luna's safety. They were shown to their rooms, and after resting and washing up, soon themselves, Gandalf, the Dwarves, (and Bilbo) seated around a huge table. At the head sat Elrond. He was regally dressed, and at first glance appeared to Harry to be in his mid forties, but it was when he looked in the mans eyes that he saw just how far off the mark he was. This man was hundreds of years old. Maybe even thousands. But in his eyes he also saw both kindness, and immense strength. So much so that the last of his worries disappeared.

After their meal, which Harry noticed was completely vegetarian. (he found out later that Elves didn't eat meat for any reason) they all retired to a large room that was lit only by a huge fireplace. "This is the Hall of Fire" said Elrond. "A fire is kept lit here year round, and usually people come here to read, or listen to music or poetry, or even just to think. But tonight we will hold our meeting here." He told the group. "Gandalf has told me of your quest to regain the halls of your grandfather, and to destroy the dragon Thorin Oakenshield. I will assist you in any way that I can."

Thorin bowed his head slightly and replied "I thank you Master Elrond, for any assistance you can give us."

"But I must admit, I was very surprised when Gandalf told me of your two companions here." Indicating Harry and Luna. "In the last 5000 years, there have been only 5 of what you would call Wizards, who have come to this land from Valinor. And yet, here are two not sent to us by the Valar, but from another world entirely. How do you come to be here?" he asked Harry and Luna

"We both fought in a great magical war in our world," Harry began, "and after vanquishing out enemy, we were both hurt deeply both in mind and body, and wished for someplace to rest, away from war. A magical portal or doorway opened in the place we were staying, which took us here, to Middle Earth where we met Gandalf on the Western Road."

"And how were you, both so young, involved in this war?" Elrond asked.

At this point, Luna picked up their story. "We were both students at a school of magic. Harry had a prophecy made about him before he was born saying that only he would be able to defeat a great dark lord that would try at take over our world. In the end he fulfilled that prophecy, and killed Voldemort in magical combat. But not before many of our friends were killed in battle, including by betrothed." Luna hung her head as she said the last part, tears silently trickling down her face.

Harry whipped his head around at this last part. "Betrothed?" he asked her.

Luna nodded. "Neville asked me the night before…the night before the final battle." She replied, her words hitching in her throat.

Harry pulled her into a hug, and held her as she cried for her husband that was never to be. Harry looked at Elrond and Gandalf and silently mouthed "Excuse me." And then led Luna over towards the fire and some of the large throw pillows that were scattered around it. Gently he guided her down onto one, all the time not letting go of her.

Gandalf, Elrond, and the dwarves all watched this, concern on their faces. The dwarves had come to like Luna a great deal on their trip. Mainly because when they were feeling the most depressed, she could usually get them to laugh. They had had no idea she was hiding this much pain, and silently thanked their gods that she had Harry.

While Harry was holding onto Luna he saw Thorin take out the map of the Lonely Mountain Gandalf had given him at Bad End, and while he could see that Elrond was clearly reading something, he couldn't hear was the Elvin Lord was saying. He also saw him walk over to a window and hold the map up in front of him and read something else out to the group. But what it was didn't matter right now. He could find out later what he read. Right now Luna was more important. After a while he noticed that she seemed to have gotten herself under control, and that it had taken her far less time than in the Room of Requirement. "I'm sorry Harry." She finally said. "I keep falling apart on you. You must think I'm as bad as Cho."

"As bad as Cho? How did you know about that Luna?" he asked her.

"Everybody in Ravenclaw knew about it, cause she told everyone who would listen. I don't know if she was more upset that she had lost Cedric, or the fact that you didn't appreciate the honor of be chosen to replace him."

"Replace him? Cedric? Luna, what are you talking about?" Harry managed to sputter.

"I think that after Cho lost Cedric she decided that you would make the best replacement. That whole crying thing after the DA meeting was an act to get you to feel sorry for her and hopefully fall in love with her. I would have said something, but you seemed to have seen through it for yourself, so I didn't."

Harry thought about this for a few moments, anger flooding into him at the thought that Cho had been trying to manipulate him into a relationship, but almost as soon as the anger flared up in him, it subsided. Cho was dead. One of the near thousand that had died defending the castle that day. Whatever sins she may have committed, she paid her penance for. Harry looked into Luna's eyes. "Luna, I could never think you were like Cho. You are the single most honest person I have ever met, and if you have to cry again for the people you've lost, then I'll be here to hold you. All it means is that you're a caring and loving person. You wouldn't react that way if you weren't."

Harry saw another tear trickle down Luna's cheek as he said this, but he also saw that she had gotten her control back. "Thank you," she whispered, "for being there."

"That's what friends do Luna." And gave her another hug. "Now, what do you say we go over and see what our host has been telling the dwarves. He looks like he's examining Gandalf's sword."

Luna nodded, and they got up and started over to the group. As they approached they heard Elrond telling Gandalf that the sword he now held had been named Glamdring, and that it had been made in Gondolin for the High King during the Goblin Wars. As they approached Gandalf asked "Are you feeling better Miss Lovegood?"

"I'm better, thank you." Luna replied with a smile. "I just start thinking now and then about everything that's happened, and it gets to be too much," She paused, and then looking up at Harry added, "but I have a good friend to help me when that happens."

"That is good." Said Elrond. "Nobody should be alone to deal with grief."

"So," began Harry, "what were you all talking about. I saw Master Elrond examining the sword you got from the trolls cave Gandalf."

"Indeed." Said Elrond. "I was most surprised by it. This sword and the one carried by Thorin were both made thousands of years ago near the end of the first age. They were thought lost long ago."

Harry looked at the sword in Gandalf's hand. _It could have been made yesterday._ He thought. _There isn't a mark on it. I wonder if it's like the Sword of Gryffindor?_ "This reminds me of a sword from my world. It was made over a thousand years ago for one of the founders of my school, yet, like this one, it looks like it could have been made yesterday." Harry told them. "Maybe you could take a look at mine as well Master Elrond. I got it from the same hoard as the others, and it's very unusual. It's blade it all black."

As Harry was saying this, he had unbuckled the sword he wore and now held it out, still in it's scabbard to Elrond, who had started to reach for the weapon. But upon hearing about it's blade being black, he stopped, and just stared at it.

"Is there something wrong." Harry asked him.

Elrond didn't answer, but slowly took the sword, and after a moment of what looked to Harry like trepidation, he slowly drew it from it's scabbard. The blade was as black as he remembered, but in the better light of Elrond's house, he saw that it too bore no marks of wear.

Elrond turned the sword over in his hands, examining the blade and hilt very slowly. Almost is if he were afraid to touch it. Finally he re-sheathed it and handed it back to Harry. He was silent for a long time before finally saying. "This sword was one of only two made by the Dark Elf Eöl. According to legend, it was made from iron that "Fell from the sky as a star.""

"A meteorite?" Luna asked.

"I am not familiar with that word." Elrond replied.

"In our world, it means a rock that falls to earth from space…or from the sky." She added.

"Then yes. The iron used to make this blade came from…space. As you put it. The first sword is known to have been destroyed. It was called Gurthang, The Iron of Death. But it's brother blade disappeared from these lands and was never seen again, until today."

The silence in the room was absolute. Finally though, it was Harry that broke it. "Master Elrond. You said the sword was made by Dark Elf Eöl. Does this mean the sword is cursed?"

"No, not cursed. Nor is it an evil weapon. But it's nature is dark, and it will take one of much power to wield it. But for someone who has the strength, it will be near unbeatable."

"Great." Muttered Harry, thinking of theElder Wand. "Now I have the Elder Sword to go with the Elder Wand. A matched set." He was silent for a few moments, thinking about the sword. Finally he asked Elrond, "How will I know if the sword will submit to my will…if I'm strong enough I mean?"

"Draw the sword…Gandalf, you do the same with yours, and cross both your swords as if you were going to begin a duel. You will feel the blade start to fight you for control Mr. Potter. Do not let it. You are the Master."

Luna watched as Harry slowly drew the weapon from it's scabbard, and then doing as Elrond instructed, held it up in front of Gandalf and waited. Gandalf drew Glamdring, it's bright blade shining in the firelight. "Whenever you are ready Mr. Potter." He told Harry.

Harry simply nodded, and then after taking a deep breath, crossed the black sword with Glamdring. Luna saw immediately the look of strain that came on Harry's face as the sword tried to bend him to it's will. She watched as he fought against it. Finally after what seemed to her to be hours, Harry lowered the sword. "It has given me it's allegiance." He said weakly, and passed out.

-=ooo000ooo=-

When Harry awoke, he found himself in a soft bed, sunlight streaming through curtained off windows. He pulled himself into a half sitting position, and groped around for his glasses. He found them on a small table next to the bed, and after putting them on, saw that Luna was curled up asleep in an overstuffed chair next to his bed. A light blanket covering her. "Luna?" he managed to croak out.

Luna woke at once. "Harry, you're awake. Elrond didn't think you'd wake for a few more days."

"Water." He managed to croak out through his dry mouth.

Luna got up and poured him some water from pitcher on the table. He started to drink it slowly, until to goblet was empty. "Better?" she asked.

"Much." He answered, his voice nearly normal. "What did you mean by a few more days?"

"What's the last thing you remember?" she asked

"Ah…fighting with the sword for control. I won…then nothing till I woke up this morning. It _is_ morning, right?"

"Yes it's morning." Replied Luna, "But you've been asleep for two days."

"Two days?" Harry asked, confused.

"Uh huh. Elrond's people brought you here after you blacked out. He says it's because of the strain you were under fighting the sword for control. But that when you woke up you'd be all right. How do you feel?"

"Better." Harry answered, "Like I've had a full nights sleep."

Luna nodded. "Good." She said, and started over to the windows and started pulling the curtains open to let the sun fully into the room. Harry saw with a shock that she was wearing a simple cotton night dress, and when the sun hit her full on, he saw that she was also wearing _nothing _underneath it. He felt his heart stirring at this sight, but it was the stirring of _something else_ that really got his attention. He closed his eyes thinking _Merlin this is not the time for this. She's still mourning Neville. It's not fair to her, or him. Got to think of something un-sexy. Something horrible, something…something...Snape and Umbridge tongue kissing in the Great Hall! Snap and Umbridge tongue kissing in the Great Hall! …Snap and Umbridge AND Filch in a three way on the Gryffindor House Table!_ With a sigh or relief, the feeling passed. _Be good." _He said softly to himself.

While Harry was fighting for control of his _other_ sword. Luna, who had her back to him while she was opening the curtains was smiling to herself. She sensed immediately that Harry had noticed her lack of attire under the night dress, and the _problem_ he was currently having. She still loved Neville, loved him deeply in fact. But she was also a far more practical person than many gave her credit for. Neville was gone, and while she would always remember what they had shared, and always have a place in her heart for his memory, she also knew that she was falling in love with Harry. Probably the only other person she could have fallen for. But she also knew that Harry could be denser than Ronald at times, and there was also the fact that he likely felt guilty. Like he was betraying Neville's memory for thinking about her like that. _Sometimes nobility can be such a pain in the arse. _She thought with a slight sigh.

She finished opening the last of the curtains, and then turned back to Harry. She saw that he wasn't looking directly at her. "Now that you're awake Harry, I'm going to go change. Breakfast should be ready in about fifteen minutes. I'll meet you there?"

"Okay Luna. I'll be there as soon as I've washed up and dressed." He replied, trying to keep his voice steady, and his eyes focused on something _other_ than Luna. He waited till she had left the room before flopping back down in the bed, hands over his face. "Merlin help me." He said.

-=ooo000ooo=-

In the end, they stayed three more days in the hidden valley. The Dwarves had wanted to leave the day after Harry woke, but Elrond had insisted that they stay at least two more to make sure Harry's was back at full strength. The Dwarves didn't like it, but they agreed.

On they're last night in Rivendell, Gandalf and Elrond were sitting alone in the Hall of Fire. "Mr. Potter is a remarkable young man, more powerful than any child of man that I have ever encountered," He said to Gandalf. "and Miss Lovegood is not far behind him. But her power is different somehow. I don't understand it."

"Nor do I." replied Gandalf, drawing a mouthful of smoke from the pipe in his hands. "But there is also no evil in either of them. In fact, I've only ever met one other person like them."

"One other?" asked Elrond.

"Aragorn." Gandalf replied simply. "Can you imagine what the _four_ of them could do for Middle Earth if they were together?" he asked.

"I do not wish to discuss Aragorn and Arwen Gandalf." Elrond said with a frown. "I have told him the conditions under which I will allow them to marry. Until and unless that comes to pass, I do not wish to discuss it."

"As you wish." Gandalf replied, bowing his head in a conciliatory manner, and then took another long drag on his pipe.

-=ooo000ooo=-

Then next morning they were all packed. Their food supplies re-stocked by the elves, and they had also got another pack pony. Unknown to the Dwarves though, Harry and Luna had asked for and gotten extra food which they had shrunken and put feather light charms on. In fact, they were carrying as much food between them as all the Dwarves had in their packs and on the ponies. They didn't want to take any chances with another pony falling in a river.

With a final thank you and goodbye to Elrond, they set out again on the Eastern road, the Misty Mountains looming far in the distance.

-=ooo000ooo=-


	6. Chapter 6  Over Hill and in the Bloody

Thanks to everyone who posted comments, reviews, and or suggestions.

Chapter 6: Over Hill and in the Bloody Dark

The next ten days were uneventful for the Company. They walked. They ate. Walked some more, and finally slept for the night, and then got up and did the same thing the next day. But day by day they were coming closer to the edge of the mountains. Bilbo started to notice that they had started on an upward angle and were climbing up. At first it was easy, but by the 7th day, the angle was starting to get steep, and Mr. Baggins, who was not accustomed to such hikes, was near dead on his feet by the end of the day.

The Dwarves of course were used to climbing in mountains, and it paid them little bother. Likewise were Harry and Luna, who were both in good shape physically. If the climb bothered Gandalf, he gave no sign of it.

Adding to Bilbo's discomfort was the weather. It was getting colder the further up the mountain they went. Also there were the paths to deal with. When they started at the base of the mountain, the path leading up into them had been wide and well defined, and one was able to step out of the way of sharp rocks and the like. But now it had narrowed considerably, and Bilbo was having a horrible time trying to avoid stepping on sharp stones, and at the same time trying to keep the pony he was leading from doing the same. But it was no use. (at least for him) He invariably would step on a rock, and although the rock didn't cut his foot because of the thick pad of callus built up through 50 years of walking barefoot, it still hurt like all hell.

In the end, Harry had made him some, what he called _sandals_ which had very thick bottoms on them. He had originally made him _hiking boots_ but the things were so heavy, that he had to take them off after only a half an hour. These though were much better. They were light, and they cushioned his feet against the rocks.

But that had been the only bright spot of their trip up into the mountain so far. He was still cold, and they still weren't stopping for meals as often as he would have liked…...only TWICE today, and it was past noon already, and he was getting hungry.

Bilbo was busy grumbling to himself, that he "Should have kept his mouth shut and stayed home where people ate at civilized hours," and thinking that this adventure "couldn't possibly get any more uncomfortable!" when of course it did.

-=ooo000ooo=-

Harry and Luna on the other hand, seemed to be in good spirits. They had never seen mountains like these, and the trek up into them had been a delight from their point of view. Very early on Harry had transfigured his trainers into hiking boots, and was surprised to see Luna do the same. "I didn't know you knew about hiking boots Luna." He said to her. Choosing not to say anything about the fact that Luna's boots were neon pink with sequence on them.

"Oh I've worn these kind of boots before Harry." She explained. "When Daddy and I went looking for Snorkacks, usually in Sweden and Austria, we often found ourselves in mountains where there were loose rocks everywhere. The weight of them took some getting used to, but they're better than twisting your ankle, or falling and bruising your tailbone. Once you do that once, you never want to do it again, believe me." She smiled at him as she was saying all this, seemingly without taking a breath.

Harry opened his mouth to ask how you treat a bruised tailbone…and then shut it. _No. I don't want to know._ He thought to himself.

They had both noticed Bilbo struggling over the rocks, so Harry asked him, "Bilbo, would you like me to make you a pair of hiking boots like Luna and I have? They'll protect your feet from the rocks." Bilbo had agreed to try them, and Harry transfigured two tree branches into boots that would fit the Hobbit. He regretted it almost as soon as he did it. He has used a sizing spell to make sure the boots fit, but he hadn't taken into account the size of Hobbit feet, or the thick layer of hair, (fur really) that covered them. The boots ended up looking like a cross between clown shoes, and Frankenstein boots, and between the weight, and how hot Bilbo's feet got in them, the poor Hobbit had only managed to last about half an hour before they completely wore him out.

It had been Luna that had saved the day. "Why don't you turn them into sandals Harry, only with a thick sole to cushion Bilbo's walk?"

"Luna that's brilliant." He told her, and with a swish of his wand, the Frankenboots were gone, and in their place was an extra long, extra wide pair of sandals, complete with a thick layer of sponge rubber for the sole. "Try these Bilbo. They're nowhere near as heavy."

Bilbo tried them on and found that he hardly noticed the weight of them. Best of all, they prevented the rocks from cutting into the bottoms of his feet. "Thank you so much Mr. Potter." He told Harry. "And thank you as well Miss Lovegood for thinking of them. This is ever so much better."

"Oh anytime Bilbo, and don't you think it's time you started calling us Harry and Luna? Friends usually address each other by their first names."

"Thank you…Harry," Bilbo answered. "and you too Luna. These…what did you call them…sandals?..." Luna nodded. "…will make walking here much easier."

The sandals had indeed made the walk easier, but now not even his new footwear could help. It was raining again.

-=ooo000ooo=-

The rain, which had started as a light shower late in the day, had quickly turned into a violent thunder storm, and now the entire company was soaked to the skin. They had looked for a dry place to stay for the night, but all they could find had been a relatively shallow over cropping that barely kept the rain from hitting them. Ad to this the wind and the cold…well, everyone was quite miserable let me tell you. Even Luna's usual upbeat manor was diminished considerably.

They tried of course warming and drying charms, but even magic can only do so much. Harry even tried using the Elder Wand to "_Impervious_" their cloaks, and it worked for a little while. But the rain still got through, and he eventually gave up.

It was Thorn that finally decided to do something about it though. He sent Fili and Kili off to see if they could find a better spot for them to spend the night. They were gone for nearly an hour, before returning. "We found a dry cave." Said Fili.

"Where?" asked Thorin.

"About 20 minutes walk from here." Answered Kili. "It's dry, and will hold all of us plus the ponies."

"Did you explore it thoroughly?" Gandalf asked the two dwarves.

"Yes, yes." They both said. "It goes back about fifty feet into the mountain, and there are no entrances to it from the inside."

Gandalf frowned. He didn't think they could have explored it very well if they were back so soon, and would take a look for himself when they got there. Caves it these parts of the Misty Mountains were dangerous, and very seldom unused. He got up and went over to Harry and Luna who were in a corner with a blanket around them, trying to stay dry and warm. "Mr. Potter, Miss Lovegood, when we get to this cave could I have the assistance of you both in searching it to make sure it's safe? You may be able to see something I miss."

"Of course Gandalf." Harry replied. "We would have done that in any event. 'Constant Vigilance ' as an old teacher of mine used to say."

Luna smiled, thinking about her rather, _eccentric_ great-grandfather.

"A wise man." Agreed Gandalf. "Always be on your guard – at least till we get out of the mountains."

"Don't worry, we will." Harry said gravely. "If the Goblins in these mountains are anything like the ones back home, then they're nothing to take lightly."

They both got up and went over to Bilbo who was helping the dwarves pack up to move to the cave. "Want some help packing Bilbo?" Harry asked.

"Yes please." Answered Bilbo, who seemed to be a bit overwhelmed.

With a swish of his wand, everything around Bilbo was suddenly in motion. All of it packing itself neatly into bags. Luna, Bilbo noticed had gone over to help the dwarves with their packing. "It's amazing how you can do that Mr…Harry. I've never even seen Gandalf do anything like that."

"I don't think it's because he can't." Harry answered him. "I think rather it's because he's not _allowed_."

"No allowed? But….who….why would they…" Bilbo stammered. Amazed at the very thought that Gandalf could be forbidden from doing something by anyone.

"From what Gandalf told Luna and I when we met. He, and others like him,

were sent here to help the peoples of Middle Earth. They're all very powerful, but they're also supposed to inspire the people to help themselves, and only allowed to use their power in the direst of circumstances. In other words, he's not allowed to interfere directly."

Bilbo pondered this as he watched Luna packing up the dwarves things. Then he thought about the deer that Harry had killed out of reflex. "But what about you and Luna? I see you using magic all the time."

Harry smiled. "We're not from this world Bilbo, nor from the same place as Gandalf. So we're not under the same restrictions. Now, let's get this stuff on the ponies so we can move to the cave Killi and Filli found. I'm tired of being wet and cold."

"Gladly." Replied Bilbo. "Anything is better than this dismal place."

Harry was about to say that there were a _lot_of things worse than being wet and cold, but decided not to voice his concern to Bilbo. The Hobbit had enough to worry about.

-=ooo000ooo=-

It took the company the better part of two hours to get themselves, their ponies, and all their supplies to the cave as they had to go very slowly. The part found by the dwarves was very narrow, and they had to lead the ponies very carefully. But in the end, they got there in one piece. Although they did have a close call when a stone giant (as Gandalf had called it) tossed a boulder that narrowly missed them. It hadn't been aiming at them, but at another of it's kind, and the boulder, after hitting the side of the mountain, had rolled and bounced within a dozen feet of them before disappearing into the gloom of a ravine far below.

They found the cave was indeed dry, but because of the weather outside, extremely damp. Harry levitated some large rocks into the center of the cave and said "Luna could you help me with this and cast _Incendio _on the rocks to heat them up? That should warm this place up."

"Of course Harry. Anything for you." Luna said innocently.

Harry blinked at this, wondering if there was some other meaning to that statement, but pushed the thought aside. "On three then?" he asked Luna nodded.

"One…two…three. _INCENDIO!" _they both cast in unison.

Fire shot out of both their wands and blasted onto the rocks. They held the spell for nearly 2 minutes before Harry nodded and they both stopped. The rocks were now blazing hot. "There, they should stay hot for quite a while, and we can re-heat them later as needed."

"Thank you." Thorin said. This will make all the difference. We can dry our clothes, and maybe even cook some of the deer meat we have left by putting on the rocks."

"No problem." Harry replied, and then saw that Gandalf had come over to them.

"Mr. Potter, Miss Lovegood, could I borrow both of you for a little while. I want to check out this cave more thoroughly before we all go to sleep."

"Sure." Harry said. "We might as well get it over with so we can get some rest. How do you want to do this Gandalf? Split up and each of us search a section. Or all together?"

"All together I should think." Replied the old wizard. "The caves not that big, and I mainly want you to examine it with me because you might see something I miss."

So while the dwarves and Bilbo were changing into dry clothes and laying their wet ones out to dry near the rocks, Gandalf, Harry and Luna started running magical scans of the back wall of the cave. Harry had decided to use the Elder wand for this to give him the best possible chance of detecting if there anything of concern. He found nothing to alarm him, but he did find that there was an opening behind the center of the back wall. It didn't concern him because this was a cave after all, and caves had open spaces all over the place. Besides, the back wall was solid with no openings. Luna detected nothing, but did notice he was again using the fabled wand.

"I detect nothing." Gandalf finally said. "Did either of you find anything?"

Harry told him about the open space behind the wall, and Gandalf agreed that this wasn't unusual. That most of the caves in these mountains were honeycombed with passages and openings. But something still bothered Harry about it. _Maybe, _ he thought to himself, _ maybe Mad Eye's paranoia is just rubbing off on me. Still…_Silently he cast a security ward on the back wall. Luna looked at him questioningly. "Just in case." He said simply.

-=ooo000ooo=-

Bilbo couldn't sleep.

He didn't know why he couldn't, all he knew was that he couldn't get comfortable. It was almost he thought, like he was being watched. He knew this was impossible because everyone was asleep, even Gandalf. And so it was because of this, that he found himself sitting up with his back to the wall of the cave staring into the dark, think of his warm soft bed back in Bagend.

He almost didn't notice the back wall when it started to move quietly to the side, but that wouldn't have mattered because no sooner did it start to move when the loudest sound he had ever heard started ringing inside the small cave.

The sound, had he known it, was a claxon, and it instantly woke everyone up. However most of them had by this time been in a deep sleep, and between waking up suddenly, and the noise, they were more than a bit disorientated. It was this that allowed the Goblins, for Goblins it was that poured in through the hole in the wall, to capture nearly all of them. All save for Harry, Luna, and Gandalf.

Gandalf and Harry had awoken and immediately starting sending spells at their then unseen intruders. At least 20 of the Goblins were cut down before they realized there were too many to fight off without the help of the Dwarves. Harry disillusioned Luna and then himself before looking for Gandalf. Not seeing the old wizard, he figured he had done something similar. "Don't make a sound Luna. We can't fight them off right now."

"But Harry, what about the dwarves? We can't just leave them." She protested.

"We won't." he said quickly. "When the Goblins take them, wherever they're going to take them, we'll follow. I'm sure Gandalf is still here too, so we should be able to surprise them and get everyone out."

"Alright, but I don't like it." She finally said.

"I don't like it either Luna, but it's the only chance they have. Even three wizards can't take on…" he looked around and did a quick estimate. "at least a hundred goblin warriors when they're ready for a fight. We have to catch them off guard."

And so they watched as the Dwarves and Bilbo were all bound, and disarmed by the Goblins before being roughly shoved through the cave opening into the

Dark cavern beyond. Harry and Luna managed to get through just before the Goblins shut the cave entrance door. There was sign of Gandalf.

They followed quietly behind for what seemed like hours to them. All the while listening to the Goblins singing a rather horrible song about where they lived, deep in the mountains.

Finally though, they came to a huge hall that was lit by dozens of torches. At the far end of which was a large throne, and an even larger Goblin sitting in it. Bilbo and the Dwarves were all made to kneel before one of the Goblins leading them approached the Throne and bowed.

"Who are these miserable persons?" he bellowed at the Goblin

"Dwarves, and this!" said one of the drivers, pulling at Bilbo's chain so that he fell forward onto his knees. "We found them sheltering in our Front Porch." The Goblin warrior said.

"What do you mean by it?" said the Great Goblin turning to Thorin. "Up to no good, I'll warrant! Spying on my people, I guess! Thieves, I shouldn't be surprised to learn! Murderers and friends of Elves, not unlikely! Come! What have you got to say?"

"Thorin the Dwarf at your service!" trying to sound polite as this was not the time for rudeness. "Of the things which you suspect and imagine we had no idea at all. We took shelter from a storm in what seemed a empty cave. Nothing was further from our thoughts than inconveniencing you or your people in any way whatever."

"So you say! And what you were doing up in the mountains at all, and where you were coming from, and where you were going to? In fact I want to know all about you. Not that it will do you much good, Thorin Oakenshield…yes I know who you are. In fact I know too much about your folk already. But let's have the truth, or I will make sure that what remains of your lives is particularly painful. No matter how short it is!"

"We were on a journey to visit our relatives, and the other descendants of our grandfathers, who live on the East side of these mountains," said Thorin, not quite knowing what to say, when obviously the exact truth would not do at all.

"He is a liar, O truly tremendous one!" said one of the warriors. "Many of our people were struck by lightning in the cave, when we invited these, _creatures_ to come below, and they are as dead as stones. Also he was carrying this!" and held up the sword Thorin had gotten from the Trolls lair.

The Great Goblin gave an almost primal howl of rage when he saw the sword, and all his soldiers started grinding their teeth, and clashing their shields. They knew it at once. It had been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of goblins in its day, when the Elves of Gondolin fought them in the hills. The Elves had called it Orcrist in their tongue, or Goblin-cleaver, but the goblins called it simply Biter, and the only thing they hated more than it, was any one that carried it.

"Murderers! Elf-friends!" the Great Goblin shouted. "Slash them! Beat

them! Bite them! Take them away to a dark hole and never let them see the light again!" He was in such a rage that he jumped off his seat and rushed at Thorin with his mouth open to bite him. But at that moment all the lights in the cavern went out with a POOF!

-=ooo000ooo=-

Harry and Luna had been quietly watching and listening to all of this from the back of the cavern. He had started forming a plan to free the Dwarves and Bilbo when Orcrist was revealed and the plan went up in smoke.

"Oh shit!" Harry quietly swore. "This isn't going to end well Luna." He said to her quietly. "Don't cast to stun. Goblins are tough at the best of times, and most of these are wearing armor on top of that.

Harry, like Luna, already had his wand in his hand, and he switched it to his left as he started to pull the black sword out of its scabbard when all the lights went out. "Gandalf!" he said.

-=ooo000ooo=-

The chaos that ensured when the lights went out, had to be heard to be believed. Goblins were yelling from every point on the room. Harry and Luna also heard the occasional voice of one of the Dwarves as one of them was either hit or bumped into in the dark. Suddenly there was a flash of light in the corner as a sword, bathed in a blue glow lit the room. It instantly got the attention of all the Goblins as well, as their screaming increased ten fold. They knew that sword. It had been named Glamdring by the Elves, and as Harry watched, he saw it come sweeping down and cleave the Great Goblin completely in half.

It was this that moved Harry into action. He pulled the black bladed sword from his scabbard, wondering if it too would glow blue in the dark. To his astonishment it did indeed glow, but not blue. Instead the swords blade gave off bright fire red glow, almost like it had been heated in a forge. He started in at the Goblins, chopping away at them one by one, with Luna staying behind him and watching his back. She even hit two goblins with reducto curses when they got too close to the pair, Both went down and didn't get up.

Finally, between Glamdring and the black blade of Eöl, Harry and Gandalf managed to cut a path to the dwarves (and Bilbo) and release their chains.

"Now, quickly. Follow me!" Gandalf commanded; and before Bilbo or the Dwarves understood what had happened they was trotting along again, as fast as they could. down one dark passage after another, the yells of the goblin-hall growing fainter behind him. Gandalf, Harry saw had lit up the top of his staff and it was giving off enough pale light in the gloom to light their way.

"Quicker, quicker!" said the voice. "The torches will soon be relit." How long they ran down those dark passage ways, they never knew. But finally after a while, they had to stop. When they did, Gandalf lit his staff up brighter so that they could all see better.

"Are we all here?" said he, handing his sword back to Thorin with a bow. "Let me see: one-that's Thorin; two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven; where are Fili and Kili? Here they are, twelve, thirteen, here's Mr. Baggins, that's fourteen, and Mr. Potter and Miss Lovegood. That's sixteen. Good. Well, well! it could be worse, and then again it might be a good deal better. No ponies, and no food, and no knowing quite where we are, and hordes of angry goblins just behind! On we go!"

So on they went. Gandalf as it turned out had been quite right about the hoards of angry Goblins, as they began to hear goblin noises and horrible cries far behind them in the passages they had come through. This actually helped them to move even faster than ever. But there was a problem. The problem of course was Bilbo. The poor Hobbit could not possibly go half as fast as the dwarves or the three humans, so Harry took it on himself to carry Bilbo on his back.

But Goblins can still run faster than dwarves, and these goblins knew the way better as they had made these tunnels paths themselves. That and the fact that they were beyond angry at the group, so no matter how fast a pace they tried to keep, they could hear from the sounds that the Goblins were gaining on them.

Finally it got so that they could hear the flap of the goblin feet, many many feet which seemed only just round the last corner, and they could make out the red glow of their torches.

"Why, O why did I ever leave my hobbit-hole!" said Mr. Baggins as he was bumping up and down on Harry's back.

It was at this point that Gandalf fell behind, and Thorin with him. They turned a sharp corner. "About turn and face them!" he shouted. "Draw your sword, Thorin! Harry we need your sword as well!"

_Great. _Harry thought to himself. _We're all going to die, so he finally decides to call me by my first name._ But Harry lowered Bilbo down off his back and told him to stay with Luna. "I need someone to protect her Bilbo." and Harry saw the small Hobbit straighten up slightly at this.

The Goblins came scurrying round the corner in full cry, and found Goblin-cleaver and Foe-hammer shining cold and bright right in their astonished eyes. But what made it worse though was Harry standing in between them both, his sword drawn as well, and it's blade burning like the fires of hell.

The Goblins in front dropped their torches and gave one yell before they were killed. The ones behind yelled even more, and leaped back knocking over those that were running after them.

Soon they were all shrieking, and in complete confusion, and most of them were hustling back the way they had come. It was a long time before any of them dared to turn that comer again. But by that time the company long gone. Far into the dark tunnels of the Goblins' realm.

But when the goblins discovered that, they snuffed out their torches and put soft shoes, almost like slippers. They chose their fastest runners with the sharpest eyes and ears. These ran forward, faster than weasels in the dark, only making hardly no noise at all. That is why neither Bilbo, nor the dwarves, nor even Gandalf, Harry or Luna heard them coming. And of course. Approaching from behind with no torches, they didn't see then either.

But the Goblins saw them as they ran silently up behind, for Gandalf was letting his staff give off enough light for them to see where they were going.

Suddenly Harry, who was at the back, again carrying Bilbo, was grabbed from behind in the dark. He shouted and then fell off to his left and into the dark, taking Bilbo with him. Both rolled down a shallow embankment, Bilbo knocking his head on a rock and plunging him into blackness.

-=ooo000ooo=-

A/N: A quick note to those reading Not Another Time Travel Fic.

I'm still working on it. I just can't get it to come out the way I want it. So please be patient with me constant readers. (I love that term. I lifted it from Stephen King)

Cheers.

TD


	7. Chapter 7  Gollum

Thanks to everyone who posted comments, reviews, and or suggestions. Also, sorry about the longer than usual wait.

Chapter 7: Gollum

Harry wasn't seriously hurt by his tumble, just a few scrapes. "Bilbo, are you okay?" he asked quietly into the dark. No answer. "Bilbo, can you hear me?" he asked, pulling out his wand. "Lumos." He quietly commanded, and his wand lit up, shining light out in a circle. At the very edge of the circle, he saw a furry foot sticking out from behind a rather large rock.

Going over to the Hobbit, he found he was out cold, and had a cut on his forehead. "Enervate." He said pointing his wand at Bilbo.

With a groan, Bilbo started to stir. "What…what happened?" he asked after getting his bearings.

"We were grabbed from behind and fell down a small hill. You hit your head on a rock, and were knocked out. But the Goblins seem to have missed us in the dark. How's your head Bilbo?"

Bilbo put his hand up to his forehead and it came away bloody. "Except for the cut, I seem to be alright. What about you M-Harry, are you hurt?"

"No, I missed the rock and ended up on a patch of gravel. Let's see if I can clean the cut up and heal it for you."

"You can do that?" Bilbo asked. Harry just nodded. "But how?"

"I became rather good a basic battlefield healing Bilbo….out of necessity." Harry said simply. "Now lets see, he said pulling out the Elder wand and keeping his regular out still lit. "Scourgify." He said, pointing the wand at Bilbo's cut head. All the dirt in the cut vanished and it started to bleed more freely, but before it got too bad he added "Episkey." And the cut started to knit itself together.

"Oh my, that feels very queer. Almost like insects walking over my skin."

"Yeah, it does feel strange the first time." Then after a minute added, "Well, it's not nearly as good as Madam Pomfrey could have done, and you'll have a faint scar. But it shouldn't give you any trouble."

"Thank you." Bilbo said. "Madam Pomfrey?" he asked questioningly

Harry was quiet for a few moments, but then answered "Madam Pomfrey was the healer at my school. We lost her during the final battle. She was…." But Harry broke off his explanation in mid sentence and went quiet. Finally he said "She was killed while trying to help a wounded student during the battle. Hit in the back by a Killing Curse."

Bilbo silently cursed himself for asking Harry about this. He could clearly see the pain on the young mans face as he told him about woman. "Harry…I'm sorry. I never should have asked about…"

Harry held up his hand saying. "No Bilbo. You have nothing to be sorry about. You couldn't have known." And then looking around in the gloom said "How about we try to find a way out of here? I want to get back to the others."

"Of course, but which way do we go? Back along the path we were following, or forward?"

Harry thought about this for a few minutes then replied "If we go back to the path, we'll most likely run into the Goblins and there'll be another battle. I can beat them using magic, but the sound will alert even more of them." He paused, thinking. "Maybe there's another way out this way," He said . "and if not we can always come back here and take our chances with the path we were following in the first place."

Bilbo agreed to this. After all, what else could he do? So they started off, grateful that Harry's wand gave them enough light to see where they were going.

They hadn't been walking for too long, maybe a half an hour when Bilbo stepped on something hard. "Ow!" he exclaimed.

"What's wrong? Are you alright" Harry asked.

"I'm alright, I just stepped on something." Bilbo replied, and then bending down, picked up the object. The 'something' which Bilbo expected to be a rock, turned out to be a gold ring which glimmered in the light of Harry's wand. "Well isn't that queer? Finding something like this way down in the middle of a mountain. I wonder how it got here?"

"Probable dropped by a Goblin or something." Harry replied, looking at the ring closely. He felt a strange pull from the ring. "Bilbo, I think that ring may be magical, I feel a strange power coming from it. Maybe you should put it away safe in your pocket till we get out of here. We can take a better look at it then."

"You think it's magical?"

Harry nodded. "I'm sure of it."

Bilbo shrugged, but shoved the ring deep into his pocket. As soon as it was out of sight, Harry felt better. He shook his head to clear it. "Come on, we better keep going.

They went on for another hour, or so Harry thought. Time was hard to judge in the dark, when they saw the lake. "Okay," Harry said with a sigh, "So much for getting out by another path." And then turning to Bilbo asked him, "Do you want something to eat first before we head back?"

"You have food with you? Where? I didn't see any during our trip."

Harry laughed. "Well, you see, after what happened with the pony that was carrying our food, and then the trolls…well, before we left Rivendell, I got the Elves to give both Luna and I a separate supply which we shrunk and kept in our packs. Each of are carrying as much as the Dwarves are on all the ponies."

"Amazing." Was all the Bilbo could say to that. "What do you have?"

"Well, lets see," Harry replied, taking off his pack and opening it. "I have roast meats, cheese, bread butter, a dozen flagons of wine, ale, apples, plus a few odds and ends. That enough?"

Bilbo opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again. He tried again, but without success.

_Uh oh._ Harry thought to himself. _I think I broke him._ He snapped his fingers in front of Bilbo, who seemed to come out of his trance. Finally he said "Some cheese and bread will do fine…...and maybe some wine to warm me up a bit." He added as an afterthought.

"Warm you up?" Harry asked with a smile. "It's as hot as blazes down here."

"Well…" Bilbo began, "Hobbits get cold easily."

Harry shook his head but didn't say anything. He just enlarged the cheese and bread and handed them to Bilbo, along with one of the flagons of wine.

-=ooo000ooo=-

Unseen by Harry and Bilbo, and also unheard, Gollum was watching all this from his island, which was far out in the middle of the lake. For a lake it was, very wide and very deep. He was a foul creature, and had lived on this small patch of dry land for over 500 years. Where he came from or how he got there, I don't know.

He only left the island to get food. Mostly fish, which he ate raw, but sometimes he managed to creep up behind a small goblin and ring their necks before they could shout out. This had been the case earlier when he had caught a small goblin imp. But there wasn't much left of the imp now, mostly bones and horns. He wanted something sweeter. That was when he saw the light coming down towards the edge of the lake. He saw that it was a man and a…well he didn't know what it was. It was smaller than a Dwarf, and seeing the small creature seemed to remind him of something from his past. But he couldn't place it, no matter how hard he tried, so he put it out of his mind and started planning how he could catch them. _"The mans will be the most dangerous My Precious." _He said quietly to himself _"We musts be careful Precious. Yes we musts."_

Quietly he got into the small boat he had made and started paddling silently towards the shore.

-=ooo000ooo=-

Harry and Bilbo were sitting by the edge of the lake eating when all of a sudden they heard "Bless us and splash us, my precioussss! I guess it's a choice feast Gollum!" And when he said Gollum he made a horrible swallowing noise in his throat.

The hobbit jumped nearly out of his skin when he heard Gollum hiss this statement, but Harry reacted a little differently. He had been holding his wand in his left hand so he could use his right to eat. At Gollum's first word he instantly dropped the cheese he was holding and yelled "STUPIFY!" There was a loud splash as Gollum was hit in the chest by the spell and toppled off his boat and into the water.

Harry stood up and went over to the small figure, now laying face down in the lake. He grabbed hold of the creature's arm and pulled him out and onto shore.

He was a small gangly creature, but with big, no HUGE eyes. _Probably from trying to see in the blackness of this place._ Harry thought.

"Is it….is…he _dead?"_ Bilbo asked Harry.

"No. I just stunned him. He'll be fine once I wake him up. But I want to find out who he is and what he was doing here before I do." Harry told him, and before Bilbo could ask him how he was going to do that Harry pointed his wand at the creature and said "_Legilimens." _Harry wasn't a very accomplished Legilimens, but with the creature unconscious, he figured he could get into it's head and find out why it had come up on them the way it did. He was right, and he soon had his answers. He also looked to see it this, Gollum, as the creature called itself, knew the way out of these tunnels to the outside. He did, but Harry very quickly saw that because of the labyrinth that the tunnels were, he would need the creature to actually lead them out. He also found out something else that was interesting. He saw that the ring that Bilbo had stepped on had belonged to the creature, and that it made the wearer invisible Also, that Gollum had used it to creep up behind small unwary goblins, throttle them, and then drag them off to his island which was somewhere out in the middle of the lake, to make a meal of them. He also saw that this was what the creature had planned for them, or at least for Bilbo.

When Harry pulled out of Gollum's mind he muttered. "Okay, that was unpleasant.

"Did you find out what you wanted to know Harry?" Bilbo asked him.

"Oh yeah, I found out all right. He was going to invite us to dinner." Harry said dryly.

"Well what's so wrong with that?" Bilbo asked, not seeing what the problem was.

"Oh nothing, except that we were going to be the main course." Harry answered.

"You mean…he…he was…it was planning to…" Bilbo stammered.

Harry nodded silently as Bilbo paled. "But, there are a few good things I found out. Like that he knows the way out of here, and I found out that that ring you stepped on makes you invisible when you put it on."

"Invisible? Well my word. Any idea where he got it from?"

"None. I probably could have found out but I didn't want to stay it it's mind any longer than I had to." Harry shuddered.

"So what do we do? I mean, I doubt this creature will just lead us out of these tunnels on his own." Bilbo said.

Harry put his wand back inside his sleeve and took the Elder wand out from inside his travel robes. He didn't want to take the chance Gollum would break free and wanted the extra power the wand offered. "_Enervate_ ." he said pointing the wand at Gollum. Almost as soon at the beam hit him Gollum was on his feet and getting set to spring at the two of them, but Harry quickly added. "_Imperio!"_ and Gollum went glassy eyed.

"What did you do to him?" Bilbo gasped seeing Gollum's eyes cloud over.

"Don't worry, it won't hurt him. It just puts him under my control for a while. I'll release him from the spell after he takes us to the exit."

"Gollum, you will show us the way out of here. Do you understand?"

"Yesssss. My precioussss will show nasty creatures the ways out. Yesss." Gollum replied in a dead voice.

"Good." Said Harry. "Let's go then. We have friends to catch up with."

Gollum started up one of the dark tunnels with Bilbo and Harry following behind him. "Bilbo," Harry said softly. "Be sure to keep that ring you found close, and at the first sign of Goblins or any other trouble put it on. But after you do, make sure you stay behind me. I don't want to hit you with a spell be accident."

"But I've got my sword, and if we do run into Goblins I can help you." Bilbo started.

"You will be helping me Bilbo. You'll be watching my back to make sure nobody creeps up behind me and sticks a dagger in it. I need someone I can trust to do that. Alright?"

Bilbo nodded. He didn't like it and thought Harry was just telling him that to make him happy, to make him think he was really doing something, but he agreed.

-=ooo000ooo=-

While Bilbo and Harry were talking about what to do if they ran into Goblins, Gollum had been listening to what they were saying, and when he heard Harry talk about the ring…_his ring….HIS PRECIOUS…_he almost broke the spell Harry had him under. Had it not been for the extra power of the Elder wand, well I don't really want to think what would have happened to them. But in the end the spell held, and that's all that really matters for now.

So Gollum led them down pathways and tunnels, turning right, then left, then right again, then another left, until finally they started to see a faint light that wasn't coming from Harry's wand tip. "Gollum stop here." Harry said softly. "Are we near the exit?"

"Yesssss precious. We is near. But there is Goiblinses up there precious. Lots and lots of Goblinses. A big guard room to watch the door."

"Alright," said Harry. "Gollum, I want you to back to your island. You will stay there for a day and then you will wake from the spell I put you under. Go now." Harry commanded. And Gollum left, heading back down the tunnel. He was soon out of sight.

"Okay, lets get the hell out of the place." Harry said to Bilbo. "Put the ring on and then give me your hand. I'm going to turn myself invisible as well, and hopefully we can sneak out without anybody noticing. Alright?" he asked.

Bilbo pulled the gold ring out of his pocket, put it on his finger, and disappeared. He took Harry outstretched hand and watched as the young wizard waved his wand and muttered something. Harry also disappeared. "Come on," He whispered. "don't make any noise." Harry whispered, and they started up the last passage way.

-=ooo000ooo=-

It only took them a minute or two to creep down the last tunnel to the room at the end. It was, as Gollum had told them, a guard room of sorts, maybe 30 foot square, and it was full of Goblins, all of them heavily armed with swords and battleaxes. Harry leaned down and whispered into Bilbo's ear: "We're going to walk straight through the center of the room to the exit on the far side. You see the one where the light in peeking through?" He heard Bilbo whisper back a "Yes."

"Okay, let's go. Don't stop unless I stop you." Harry told him, positioning Bilbo right in front of him and putting both his hands on the Hobbits shoulders so that he steer him better without speaking. He stuck his wand in his mouth.

They made their way through the guard room, stopping twice to let a Goblin pass them, and once to weave quickly to their right to avoid another collision. But they finally made it to the stone door that was the exit to the outside world. The Goblins had it pulled nearly shut, and Bilbo was barely able to squeeze through. Harry whispered to him to go through and find a place to hide when he got outside. He would follow in a few minutes because he had to use magic to open the door far enough for him to get out. Bilbo agreed and inched his way through, losing a few buttons in the process, but Harry managed to reach out and catch them before they hit the stone floor and alerted the guards. Finally though, Bilbo was out, and after looking around for a place to hide, whispered to Harry through the crack that he would be in a clump of spruce trees that were directly facing the door and about 20 yards away.

Harry started counting. "One hippogriffs…two hippogriffs…three hippogriffs…" until he got to 60. He then pointed his wand at the door and said "_Depulso!" _and as the heavy stone door flew open with a crash, all hell broke loose in the guard room.

The Goblins started yelling, about the now open door which was letting the sun stream into the room. Harry didn't know it but he had picked the perfect time of the day to escape for the sun was directly in front of the entrance. This was why the door was closed. Goblins don't like sunlight. It makes their legs weak and wobbly and their heads hurt.

Harry had been out the door and down the path the second the door had been blown open by his spell. He saw the trees Bilbo had told him about and headed straight for them. "Bilbo." He called softly, "you here?"

"Yes I'm here Harry." He heard the hobbit say back. He sounded like he was about 10 or 15 feet away. "Did you have any problems getting the door open?"

"None at all. I put a lot of power into it to make sure I didn't have to do the spell twice." Then he added "Shhhh. Here come the Goblins."

Both Harry and Bilbo, who had crept closer to where he heard Harry's voice, watched as Goblins poured out the guard room exit…and right into the full glare of the mid-day sun. There seemed to be some half hearted attempts to search for the person or persons who had opened their door, but not being able to find any trace of anyone anywhere, they quickly gave their search and returned, (amid much grumbling and some very foul cursing), to guard the door.

They had escaped.

Harry canceled the disillusionment charm on himself and called for Bilbo to come over to him. He was surprised when Bilbo told him he already was, and when he removed the ring Harry saw that Bilbo was indeed crouched right next to him.

"I never heard a sound Bilbo. Do all Hobbit move as quietly as you do?" he asked.

"Most do. Because of our size, we've had to learn to move silently when in need."

"Well lets see if we can track down the others shall we?" he asked and then holding his wand said softly "Point me, Luna Lovegood."

His wand turned and pointed down the path that was snaking it's way along the side of the mountain. "Good," he said with relief. "They got out. Hopefully in one piece. Let's go." And started off down the path, Mr. Baggins following closely behind.

-=ooo000ooo=-


	8. Chapter 8  You Don't Always Need

A/N: Thanks to everyone who sent in reviews last chapter. I really appreciate it.

Chapter 8: You Don't Always Need a Broomstick to Fly

Harry and Bilbo followed the path that went along the side of the mountain for what seem to them like hours. While they walked they talked. Harry told Bilbo a bit more about the war he and Luna had fought in, and Bilbo told Harry more about life in Hobbiton. "I got the Gamgee lad to work for me this year in the garden." Bilbo said. "He's a good worker though he a bit young."

Then he got a thoughtful look on his face and added. "I do hope he's looking after the garden while I'm gone."

"I wouldn't worry too much Bilbo." Harry told him. "I'm sure your home will be exactly as you left it."

"So how exactly did you defeat this dark sorcerer you were telling me about? I heard you and Luna mention him once or twice."

Harry's face clouded over, and he didn't say anything.

Bilbo saw the look on his face and the pain his question had brought up, and tried to back track. "I'm sorry Harry, I shouldn't have brought it up."

"No, it's alright Bilbo. It's just hard to think about what happened. But you had no real way to know that." Harry replied softly, not looking at him. "We just fought for so long, and lost so many good people…" Harry trailed off. Finally he said "When the final battle started, we managed to get nearly all the students out safely, well, all the fifth year's and below anyway. So they at least survived. But of those left, the ones that stayed to fight, there were only nine left alive when it was over. All our teachers but one were dead. We had lost. We had nothing left to fight with."

"Then how…how did you win? What happened?" asked Bilbo.

"We had managed to decimate Voldemort's dark creatures thanks to two brothers that came up with some incredibly ingenious, and even more incredibly dangerous items. They allowed us to take out all his giants and dragons. But while we were able to kill half of his Death Eaters, he still had over 200 left. More than enough to overrun the castle and kill the rest of us."

"Then…." Bilbo began.

"He got arrogant and made a mistake. He wanted to defeat me personally. So that he could prove to his followers that he was the better wizard. You see, the most powerful thing about Voldemort was his ego. So he stopped the fighting and called me out to a one on one duel. I went. I knew we couldn't win but I refused to surrender to him. I wouldn't give him that. If I was going to die, I'd die on my feet."

Harry paused for a few moments before continuing. "So we dueled. He had ordered his followers not to interfere for any reason once we started. _He wanted to kill me himself!"_

Bilbo shuddered slightly at this, but didn't comment.

"The fight lasted over 2 hours, and in the end I managed to beat him. I had his wand…this wand actually." Harry said, taking out the Elder Wand and showing it to Bilbo. "He was lying on the ground ranting and raving about how he couldn't be beaten. How he'd just come back like he did before. Be he didn't know all his horcruxes had been destroyed."

"Hor…what are Horcruxes? I've never heard of them."

"You don't want to know Bilbo." Harry paused, and then added, "The blackest of black magic" Harry paused, and then added, "Leave it at that."

Bilbo simply nodded, no longer wanting to know.

-=ooo000ooo=-

After walking for nearly 2 hours, Harry and Bilbo suddenly stopped as the approached a turn on the side of the mountain pass they were following. They heard voices.

"We must go back for them." Said Gandalf "We can't leave them to fend for themselves in the goblin caverns. We can't go on with this journey without them both."

The Dwarves started grumbling at this pronouncement, but Gandalf cut them off. "Mr. Baggins is my friend after all, and neither he nor Mr. Potter would be there at all if it weren't for me."

The dwarves wanted to know why Bilbo had been brought at all, and why the wizard had not chosen someone with more sense. "He has been more trouble than use to us so far," said Kili. "If we have got to' go back now into those abominable tunnels to look for him, then drat him, I say."

Gandalf answered angrily: "I talked him into coming, and I don't bring things or people that are of no use. Either you help me to look for him, or I go and leave you here alone to get out of this mess as best you can yourselves."

-=ooo000ooo=-

Unknown to Gandalf and the Dwarves, Harry and Bilbo were only 10 feet away from them behind a large boulder, listening in to the argument. Harry had disillusioned himself and Bilbo was wearing the ring her had found in the cave. Harry saw that Luna wasn't saying anything one way or another as the others argued. She was just staring off into space with a slight smile on her face. Suddenly she turned her head and stared at the spot where Harry and Bilbo were. Harry saw her crack a slightly larger smile then she went back to her apparent daydreaming. Harry leaned over and whispered in Bilbo's ear _"Luna knows we're here. You want to give the others a surprise?"_

Bilbo whispered back a yes and the two of the jumped out from behind the rock, Harry canceling his charm and Bilbo quickly pulling off the ring and pocketing it.

To say everyone jumped, would be like saying Goblins are ugly. Gandalf called to Balin, whom the pair had passed on the path about 50 meters back, and told him what he thought of a look-out man who let people walk right into them like that without any warning. Harry confessed that he had made himself invisible and used magic on his feet to make sure he made no noise, "But," he told them, "Bilbo crept up on you without any help from me what so ever."

After that, Bilbo's reputation went up a very great deal with the dwarves. If they had still any doubts that he was really a first-class burglar, they

doubted it no longer.

Then of course they had to tell the group how they had escaped, and all about Gollum. The Dwarves shivered at their description of the foul little beast and what he had wanted to do with them.

"But how did you get him to lead you to the way out Harry?" Luna asked.

Harry knew she would clue into this. Hermione might be the smartest witch in Hogwarts, but Luna was only a point or two behind her.

"The Imperious." Harry almost whispered.

Luna raised an eyebrow at that, but didn't say anything. Gandalf however, did.

"What's the Imperious Mr. Potter? And why does Miss Lovegood look like she doesn't approve?"

"Well, the spell lets you take control of someone, _complete control, _and it's considered illegal where we come from because some people have used it to make others do horrible things." Harry confessed.

"Does it hurt the person it's cast upon?" Gandalf asked next.

"No. The spell itself doesn't hurt them at all. But you can make them hurt themselves if you wanted to, and most people couldn't fight it. That's also why it's illegal."

"Ánd did you make this Gollum do harm to himself while you held him in thrall?"

"No." Harry answered. "After he showed us the exit, I commanded him to go back to his island and wait for some time. After that the spell would lift and he would be back to his normal self."

"Then don't either of you fret about it." He told both Harry and Luna. "Harry's intentions were not evil, and your worlds laws are not valid here."

Luna seemed to think about Gandalf's words for a while before saying. "That's two things we have to discuss Harry. The spell, and the wand."

Harry simply nodded, and hung his head slightly.

Thorin muttered something in his own tongue and Balin smiled. There was no direct translation for what he said, but I guess the closest human word to it would be "Whipped!"

-=ooo000ooo=-

After all of them had a bite to eat, (Harry had really impressed the Dwarves when he pulled his pack off and started taking out food.) they decided they had better try and get as far away from the mountain as they could before dark. "For the Goblins will be out in force searching for the ones that slew their leader." Gandalf told them.

And so they went on. The rough path disappeared, and after making their way down a rather treacherous slope of fallen stones, they came to a clump of pine trees. "Well, that got us on a bit." Said Gandalf after all in the company were safely down the slope. By this time dark had started to settle in, and it was hard to see where they were going.

"Must we go any further?" asked Bilbo. It was so dark that he could only just see Thorin's beard wagging beside him. "My toes are all bruised and bent. My legs ache, and my…"

"Just a bit farther." Said Gandalf "We must-"

But the old Wizard was interrupted by the sound of a loud howl away in the distance. It was answered shortly after by another away to the right and a lot closer to them; then by another not far away to the left. It was wolves howling at the moon! There were no wolves living near Mr. Baggins' hole at home, but he knew that sound. He had had it described to him often enough in tales often enough. To hear it out in the forest under the moon was too much for Bilbo, and he started to tremble.

"What shall we do, what shall we do!" he cried. "Escaping goblins only to be

caught and eaten by wolves!"

"Up the trees quick!" cried Gandalf; and at once everyone started running to the trees at the edge of the glade, looking for those trees that had branches low enough that they could grab on to and pull themselves up.

The Dwarves had managed to get two or three to a tree with Gandalf having one all to himself and Harry and Luna taking one that the Dwarves couldn't get into because the lowest branches were too high.

And Bilbo? He could not get into any tree, and was scuttling about from trunk to trunk, and starting to panic. "Bilbo, here." Harry crime and leaned down to try and reach the Hobbit, But try as he might, he couldn't reach him. He was starting to climb down when Luna said. "Harry, stop." And then pointing her wand at Bilbo said, "Wingardium Leviosa!"

The spell hit Bilbo and he started to float up into the tree. Harry grabbed him and settled him onto a branch as Luna cancelled the spell. "Did you forget you're a Wizard Harry?" she asked innocently.

Harry's only answer was a blush that she could see even in the bad light.

They had only gotten Bilbo into the tree just in time! A wolf snapped- at his

cloak as he started floating up, and nearly got him. Within a minute, the whole pack of them were yelping all round the tree, their tongues hanging out.

"Well, this isn't good." Harry said to Luna. "We could disapparate out of here and I could easily take Bilbo with me, and I imagine Gandalf could do the same, but the dwarves would be done for. Any suggestions?" he calmly asked Luna.

"Well we could use magic to try and drive them off. There's only about 30 or so of them so it wouldn't be too hard."

"Yeah that would work. What do you suggest, blasting or cutting curses?" Harry asked her.

"No, I think that would only enrage them. But fire would be more likely to scare them off."

"Luna, you do realize that we'd have to actually hit them with the spells right? Their fur would go up like a torch."

"I know Harry." She replied sadly, "and I don't like to think about them suffering like that, but the only other option is to kill them all. At least with the fire most of them will live."

"Alright. On three then?" he asked.

Luna nodded and took out her wand.

"One, two, three, _Incendio!" _

The spell shot out and hit two wolves that were running around their tree. Instantly the animals went up like roman candles. They started running around yelping and rolling around on the ground trying to put the fire out. One got too close to a third wolf and set it on fire as well. Seeing three of their pack burst into flames sent most of the animals running, but a few, one of them looking like the chief wolf stayed behind. But they backed off a great deal. Harry thought they all might be able to get down and make a run for it, when the situation, which was bad, got infinitely worse, as an entire company of goblins appeared out of the trees. They had been looking for the Dwarves and had been attracted by the yelping of the wolves.

Harry figured they'd start throwing spears and shooting arrows at the company, but instead the goblins started laughing, and pointing to the Dwarves who were treed like birds. One of them said something to another, and the goblins all started putting out the fires that the wolves that had been set alight had started. All but one that is. They used that fire to start other fires at the bases of the trees that the Dwarves, Gandalf, and Harry, Luna and Bilbo were perched in. Soon the flames were starting to creep up the trees and the smoke was making everybody cough. It was getting thicker and the flames were getting higher. It also didn't help matters when the Goblins started singing, well if you can call it singing. All Harry could make out was something like "_17 birds, up 6 fir trees."_ But the rest was lost to him, and in truth he couldn't be bothered right now. He was more concerned about how they were all going to get out of this mess.

-=ooo000ooo=-

High up at the top of the Misty Mountains, the Lord of the Eagles said "What's all this uproar in the forest tonight?" He was sitting on the top of a lonely pinnacle of rock at the eastern edge of the mountain. "I hear wolves! Are the goblins up to mischief in the woods?"

He leaped up into the air, and immediately two of his guards from the rocks at either hand leaped followed him. They started circling in the sky and looked down at the wolves. Now even normal eagles have keen eyes and can see small things at a great distance, But the lord of the eagles of the Misty

Mountains had eyes that could look at the sun without blinking, and could see a rabbit moving on the ground five miles below even in the moonlight. So though he could not see the people in the trees because of the branches, he could make out the commotion among the wolves and see the flashes of fire. Then he spotted the glint of goblin spears and helmets, as a long line of the dreadful creatures crept down the hillsides and into the glade.

Now eagles are not always kindly birds. Some can be cowardly and cruel. But the ancient race of the Misty Mountains were the greatest of all birds; they were proud, strong and noble-hearted, and they hated the goblins, and usually tried to stop whatever wickedness they found them doing. The goblins in turn hated the eagles just as much, and feared them, but could not reach their lofty seats, or drive them from the mountains.

Tonight the Lord of the Eagles curious to know what was afoot; so he summoned many other eagles to him, and they flew away from the

mountains, and slowly started circling round and round, slowly getting lower.

-=ooo000ooo=-

Gandalf, Harry and Luna saw, had climbed to the top of his tree. Light flashed from his staff like lightning, as he got ready to spring down on them. That would have been the end of him, though he would likely killed many of them as he came hurtling down like a thunderbolt. But he never got the chance to leap. At that moment the Lord of the Eagles swept down from above, seized him in his talons, and was gone.

There was a howl of rage from the goblins. The great eagle gave a screech to his companions. Back swept the great birds that were with him. To Harry they looked like the World War II planes he had seen on TV in a few history films he had managed to sneak a peek at while still at the Dursleys. The great birds were on strafing runs.

Down swooped the eagles; the dark rush of their beating wings drove the goblins far away. Other birds flew to the tree-tops and seized the Dwarves, who were scrambling up now as far as ever they dared to go. One flew in and grabbed Luna and was gone in a flash before Harry could do anything about it. Poor little Bilbo was very nearly left behind. He just managed to catch

hold of Harry's legs when the next bird grabbed him up; and they ended up going together, Bilbo swinging in the air with his arms nearly breaking.

Soon the light of the burning trees was faint below, nothing but a red twinkle against a black background. They were high up in the sky, VERY high in fact, as the eagles slowly climbed in strong sweeping circles. Now at the best of times heights made Bilbo dizzy. He stomach used to turn if he looked over the edge of quite a little cliff; so you can imagine how his head swam now, when he looked down between his dangling toes and saw the dark lands opening wide underneath him, touched here and there with the light of

the moon on a hill-side rock or a stream in the plains.

He shut his eyes and wondered if he could hold on any longer. Then he imagined what would happen if he didn't, and increased his death grip on Harry's legs. As it was, the flight ended just in time for him, just before his arms gave out. He felt his feet touch solid ground and let go of Harry's legs, falling three feet to the rough platform of an eagle's eyrie. There he lay without speaking for a long time. Utterly surprised at first being alive, and then fear at what would happen to him next. He found himself saying aloud: "Now I know what a piece of bacon feels like when it is suddenly picked out of the pan on a fork and put back on the shelf!"

It was only then as his head started to clear that he saw that one of the huge birds was only 4 feet from him. But the eagle seemed to take no notice of him and only sharpened his beak on a stone.

"Harry. Wh-what's going to hap-happen to us? Where's Miss Lovegood?"

Harry, who now had his wand out, was watching the nearby eagle very closely. But as the bird wasn't trying to hurt him or Bilbo, he didn't do anything for the moment. "I don't know Bilbo." Harry said, still keeping his eye and wand on the eagle. "She wasn't in sight when they set us down."

Harry was still looking around for Luna when another eagle flew up. "Our Lord bids you to bring your prisoners to the Great Shelf," he cried and was off. The eagle that had carried and Bilbo leapt into the air in a flash and again grabbed Harry before he could do anything to stop it. Another seized Bilbo when his own turn came.

This time he flew only a short way. Very soon Bilbo was laid down, trembling. He saw that Harry and all the Dwarves were there, as well as Luna and Gandalf.

The old wizard was talking to an eagle, who judging by his size was the '_Lord of the Eagles' _they had heard about. But while Gandalf was sitting in front of the great bird, Luna was sitting next to the eagle, stroking it's feathers with a look on her face that seemed to say _"What? This is completely normal."_

Finally after an hour or so. Gandalf got up, bowed to the eagle and came over to talk to the rest of the company. "The Lord of the Eagles has agreed to take us in the morning and set us down far from here so that the goblins won't catch up to us. He has also sent out a few of his flock to catch some fresh meat for us tonight, and also bring up some firewood." This news greatly improved the Dwarves mood. Not to mention Bilbo's, who had been sure he was going to be torn to shreds like a rabbit.

It didn't take the great birds long to find food for their guests. They came back with six rabbits, and a whole sheep. Bilbo, who had never butchered an animal in his life (he had always had the meat delivered to him prepared to cook) sat back and let then Dwarves do all the work of dressing the animals. This was done while Harry made up the fire and got it burning. Luna remained sitting by the Eagle Lords side, talking to him and stroking his feathers.

When the fire was finally ready for the rabbits and sheep, the Dwarves spitted them all and set them to cook, while Harry sat down. Who would have though just building a fire could be so tiring? _"It must be the altitude." _He thought. No sooner did he sit down when he saw Luna motioning him to come over to her. He got up and slowly mad his way over to her. He sat down in the spot where Gandalf had been sitting earlier.

"Harry Potter," the Lord of the Eagles began. "I have been speaking to your mate for some time. It has been long since I have met someone with power like she wields. You are very lucky. Watch over her and keep her safe."

_"Power like she wields?" _Harry thought. "Luna?" he asked questioningly.

"It's alright Harry. The Eagle Lord knows what I am. All the eagles do in fact. You have my permission to talk about it with him."

"I won't let anything happen to her my Lord. I'll protect her with my life if necessary." Harry replied. "But, if I may ask, why do you say she's my mate?"

"Is she not?" the eagle asked. "All me senses tell me she is, although you have not yet fully mated."

Both Harry and Luna went red at this matter of fact statement, but it was Luna that recovered first. "Harry has not asked me yet. I recently lost my mate, and I think he'd afraid he will either offend me, or that he will be betraying the memory of my mate who was also his brother in all but blood." Luna said without looking at Harry.

"Then I will leave you both alone so that you may ask Harry Potter. Do not take long, lest someone ease ask her before you." And then without waiting for an answer, the great bird took wing and flew off to be with his brethren

for the night.

-=ooo000ooo=-

Bilbo had been watching all this from over by the fire and was about to get up and go over to Harry and Luna, but decided against it when he saw them start talking. To him it seemed like they had forgotten where they were and why they were there. That told him one thing. That they didn't want to be interrupted.

-=ooo000ooo=-

"So," Luna began. "Don't you think it's time you told me about the Elder Wand, and how you have it? And how you find it so easy to use the Unforgivables?"

Harry sighed. "You do deserve to know Luna." He paused here, but only for a moment. "Do you remember when Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban at the beginning of my third year?'

Luna nodded.

"Well, what most people don't know is that Sirius was my Godfather, and my parents had appointed him to care for me in the event anything happened to them. As you know, my parents were killed when I was a year and a half old. Sirius had come to our house in Godric's Hollow looking for them and me because he knew something was wrong. He found them dead, murdered by Voldemort. Sirius tried to take me into hiding that night, but you see, something happened that my mum and dad didn't plan on. Dumbledore…"

-=ooo000ooo=-

Bilbo watched as Luna and Harry talked. Well Harry seemed to be doing nearly all the talking, with Luna only asking a few things now and then. When the food was ready, he ate and called over to the pair to tell them that the meat was cooked, but when neither of the responded, he decided to let them keep talking. Whatever it was must be important otherwise they wouldn't have been talking this long.

Two hours later, his stomach was full and he was starting to get sleepy. So he decided to lay down and wait for his young friends to finish. His last sight as he drifted off was the two of them still talking, something they would continue to do, long into the night.


	9. Chapter 9  Beorn

A/N: Thanks to everyone who sent in reviews last chapter. I really appreciate it.

Chapter 9: Beorn

Bilbo woke at the crack of dawn, as was his habit, and said out loud. "What a dream." But he very quickly saw that it wasn't a dream at all. He saw sitting next to a large rock, and not ten feet beyond that was a cliff. He silently thanked the Gods that he didn't walk in his sleep.

"So you're finally awake Mr. Baggins are you?" said the voice of Gandalf.

Bilbo rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, yawned, and looked up at the old wizard. "What do you mean finally? It's dawn."

"Yes it is, and we've all been up for nearly an hour."

Bilbo looked around and saw that indeed all the Dwarves, as well as Harry and Luna were wide awake, and eating their breakfast…cold mutton, bread, and some cheese on the side. "Good morning Bilbo," Harry said. "Want something to eat?"

"Please. I feel like I haven't had anything in days." He replied as he made his way over to them. Making sure he kept as far away from the ledge as he could. He saw that Gandalf was talking to the large eagle that he had seen last night. "Did you both get any sleep last night? You both seemed to be really involved in your conversation last night."

"Oh yes." Luna answered. "We talked most of the night actually. Harry told me all about his life, and some of his secrets, and I told him a few thing more things about myself that he didn't know."

At this Harry just gave her a small smile.

"And we've decided that we're going to be a couple. After all, even with magic, you can't have children by yourself."

Harry, who had been drinking some wine from a skin as Luna said this, started choking. She leaned over and slapped him on the back a few times. "Better?" she asked.

"Yeah." He replied after he had caught his breath.

"As I was saying, we've decided to become a couple."

"But I thought you were before." Bilbo said. A bit confused.

"No, we were just very good friends. But he was afraid that it was too soon after Neville died, so he was keeping his distance," she added. "Not that I don't appreciate it, but it took some time to get him to understand that he wasn't betraying his friend just because he was interested in me."

"He died in that war that you were both in?" Bilbo asked.

"Yes." She said sadly. "Neville was a good man, one of the kindest people that I've ever met, and he'll always have a place in my heart, but he wouldn't want me to be alone."

"I'm sorry." Bilbo said, looking down. "I hope I didn't mean to be nosy."

"No, that's alright Bilbo." Harry said to him, putting his hand on the Hobbits shoulder.

"So are you going to get married.?" He asked them both.

"Not yet." Harry replied. "But we're going to see how it goes between us for now. Later? Who can tell?"

"Well if the opinion of this Hobbit means anything, I think you'd be good together." He replied, and then looking again at Gandalf asked," What's Gandalf doing?"

"Oh he's talking to Gwaihir about taking us down to the plains so we can continue our trip." Luna answered.

"Gwaihir?" Bilbo asked.

"The Lord of the Eagles." Luna replied.

"So…that means we have to fly again?" he asked nervously.

"Well it's either that, or you can jump. But if you do Bilbo, let me warn you. That first step is a long one." Harry joked.

Bilbo didn't like the joke.

"Don't worry Bilbo," Harry said with a smile, "I'm sure you'll be able to ride on the back of an eagle this time rather than have them carry you in their talons."

Bilbo frowned. "That's not much of a comfort you know."

"Bilbo, just close your eyes if and hang on if the height bothers you. We won't be in the air very long before we're on the ground." Said Luna.

-=ooo000ooo=-

It was another hour before everything was packed and the Dwarves were ready to leave. They packed up what was left of the meat from the night before, (not much of this was left) and the extra food that Luna and Harry had packed. They put in all in their packs as the Dwarves had lost theirs to the Goblins.

Finally the company was ready. Gandalf came over to them and told them that the eagles had agreed to fly them down to an open meadow they knew of that was about fifteen miles from the mountain. "They won't take us any closer to the men that live in this area because they would shoot at the eagles thinking they were after their animals." He told them. "But it will put us a long distance away from the Goblins that are looking for us."

And so one by one the Dwarves were permitted to climb on the back of an eagle for the flight. Bilbo was one of the last to go. He still wasn't sure about this flying thing. But he realized that he had little choice. Harry didn't tell him that he could have Apparated him to wherever the eagles put them down, once he knew where it was that is. He figured it would be better for Bilbo to face this fear.

Soon they were all in the air. Bilbo riding on the back of a smaller eagle and holding on for dear life. "Don't pinch!" his eagle told him. You don't need to be frightened like a rabbit, even if you do look like one. It is a beautiful morning with little wind, and what could be finer than flying?"

Bilbo was tempted to say: "A warm bath, followed by a hearty breakfast in my kitchen at Bagend afterwards." but he thought that might offend the great bird so he kept his mouth shut, and let go his deathgrip just a tiny bit. He did however open his eyes about halfway through their flight and saw that Luna was on the back of the eagle Lord. She was only holding on with her legs, her arms spread out and a big smile on her face.

Harry knew how she felt. He had felt the same way when he had first ridden on the back of Buckbeak, in what seemed to him like a lifetime ago.

Finally though, Bilbo saw that they seemed to be getting closer to the ground, and that the eagles were circling. He closed his eyes again and didn't open them till he felt a *thump* as the eagle landed.

Carefully, he slid off the birds back and said "Thank you."

The eagle didn't reply, but nodded it's head in acknowledgement.

He looked over and saw Luna gently hugging the eagle Lord.

"Oh great Lord of the eagles, we are eternally grateful for your rescue." Said Gandalf as he walked over to them.

"I have not forgotten the arrow that brought me down, so many years ago.

I have not forgotten the wizard who found me and healed my wound. And now farewell wherever you fare Gandalf. My your aeries receive you at the journeys end."

"May the wind under your wings bear you where the sun sails and the moon walks." Gandalf replied respectfully.

But before the great bird left, he turned his head and said to Luna. "And you, Child of the Moon. May yours and your mates journey be a safe one. We will meet again." and then to the astonishment of everyone, except possibly Harry, who suspected the bird knew exactly who and what Luna was, he bowed his head to her before leaping into the air with a mighty flap of his wings. Luna raised a hand in farewell and Harry saw a tear slowly trickling down her cheek.

After the eagles left, they looked around and found themselves on a flat space on the top of the hill of stone, and saw that there was a well worn path of many steps leading down to a river in the distance. All of them gathered together to discuss what they would do next and where they would go.

"I always meant to see all of you all safely over the mountains," said Gandalf,

"and now by a good deal of luck, I have done it. In fact we are now a good deal further East than I ever meant to come with you. This is after all, not my adventure. I will look in on you all again if I am able, but in the meantime I have other pressing business to attend to."

The dwarves groaned. They had begun to think Gandalf was going in come all the way and would always be there to help them out.

"Not to fear, I am not leaving this very instant," he said. "I can give you a day or two more, and I can most likely help you out of your present plight. Plus, I need a little help myself. We have no food, other than what Mr. Potter and Miss Lovegood so thoughtfully brought, and that won't last for too much longer. Also you have no baggage, and no ponies to ride. We are still some miles North of the path I had planed for you to take, and which we should have been following, if we had not run into trouble with the Goblins. There are very few people that live in these lands, unless they have come here since I was last down this way. But there is one person I know of, who lives not far from here. He is the person that made the steps down from the hill to the river. The Carrock I believe he calls it. But we must go and find him; and if all goes well at our meeting, then I think I shall be off soon after and wish you as the eagles say 'farewell wherever you fare!'"

The Dwarves begged him not to leave them. They offered him part of the dragon-gold, and anything else they could think of to get him to stay, but he would not change his mind.

"We shall see, we shall see!" Gandalf replied, "and I think I have already earned already some of your dragon-gold - when you have got it that is."

"So who is this person you're talking about Gandalf?" Harry asked.

"He is a very great person, and when I introduce you, all of you must all be very polite, and do your best not to annoy him, or heaven knows what will happen. He can be absolutely appalling when he is angry, although he is kind enough if humored. Still, he gets angry easily, so be on your best behavior."

"Couldn't you find someone a little more…easy-tempered?" asked Thorin, "and hadn't you better explain it all a bit clearer?"

"No I could not! He is the only man that lives this close to Mirkwood, and I was explaining very carefully," answered the wizard crossly. "If you must know more, his name is Beorn, and he is a skin-changer. He told them all. "Sometimes he is a huge black bear, sometimes he is a great strong black-haired man with huge arms and a great beard."

"He sounds like Hagrid." Harry softly said to Luna. "Only he also seems to be an Animagus."

"I cannot tell you much more," Gandalf went on, not hearing Luna's comment, "though that ought to be enough. Some think he is a bear descended from the great and ancient bears that used to live in the Misty Mountains. Others think that he may be a man descended from the first men who lived here even before the dragons or even the Goblins came here from the North into this part of the world. At any rate, he is under no enchantment or spell but his own. As a man he keeps cattle and horses. They work for him and talk to him. He does not eat them; neither does he hunt or eat wild beasts. He keeps hives and hives of great fierce bees, and lives most on cream and honey."

And with that, the company set off.

-=ooo000ooo=-

It was the middle of the afternoon before they noticed that great patches of

Tall grasses had been turning to flowers. All of the same kind, and growing together as if they had been planted. Mostly there was clover, patches upon patches of it. There was a loud buzzing and droning in the air. Bees were busy

everywhere. Bees the like of which Bilbo had never seen before.

_If one of those bees were to sting me_, he thought, _would swell up as big as Harry!_

"We are getting close now," said Gandalf. "We are on the edge of his bee pastures. I think his house is just over the next rise. You had better wait here," he said to the dwarves. I will take Mr. Potter, Miss Lovegood, and Mr. Baggins with me at first, and tell him of the rest of you after he's accepted the idea that we're here."

Harry didn't notice, but Luna started to walk up the hill on her own. He did notice though when he heard a scream. "Harry!"

Leaving Gandalf and the others behind without a thought, he bolted up the hill, wand in hand. When he got to the top though, he found Luna perfectly alright. She was just standing there, tears streaming down her face. "Luna, what's wrong? What happened?" he gasped, trying to catch his breath.

Her only answer was to point towards a small open meadow. In it were about 50 small creatures. At first Harry thought they were rabbits, but upon looking more closely, he saw that these _rabbits_ had small odd shaped horns sticking out of the their heads. "Luna…are…are they…"

"Snorkacks." Luna said with a hitch in her voice. "Oh Harry, we've found them." And then grabbed him in a hug that would have put Mrs. Weasley to shame.

By now though, the rest of the company had caught up to the pair. Alerted by Luna's scream, they all had their swords out, ready for battle. Even Bilbo had pulled his short sword out from inside his breeches.

"What's the matter Miss Lovegood?" asked Gandalf, and like with Harry, she simply pointed to the small animals. Gandalf, misreading her reaction simply chuckled. "No need to worry Miss Lovegood. They're just Billy-Bumblers. They won't hurt you."

Harry laughed. "No, no Gandalf. Luna wasn't frightened. She was surprised. She's been looking for these creatures for as long as she can remember. They're thought to be a myth in our world."

"You called them Billy-Bumblers?" Luna asked the old wizard.

"Yes. They're everywhere in Middle Earth. Some people raise them for food, others for pets. But most of them live wild as these ones seem to do."

"But if they're everywhere, why is this the first we've seen of them?" she asked.

"This is a protected vale my dear. Most Bumblers in the wild are afraid of men and so they stay hidden. But here, on Berorn's lands, where men seldom come, they know they are safe."

"Do you think they'd let me go up to them?" she asked. "I'd love to see one up close."

"If you try offering them some food, they'll probably approach you. But I warn you. If you do, you'll likely never get rid of the creature."

For Luna, this was all she needed, and turning to Harry asked, "Do you have any of the bread left that we brought from Rivendale Harry?"

"I think I may have some." He replied chuckling. He removed his pack and started rummaging through it. He pulled out a half a loaf of bread, unshrink it, and gave it to Luna who started breaking it up into small pieces. Slowly she started walking up to them, Harry beside her.

When they had both gotten to within a few meters, she crouched down and held out the bread on her open palm, trying to entice the small rabbit like creatures to come and get it.

Slowly one of the Bumblers inched it's way over to her. Protected vale or no, it was still being cautious. But as it got closer, it seemed to sense that these big creatures meant them no harm, and finally it came right up to Luna and took the bread gingerly out of her hand and started to eat it. This of course was the signal for most of the others to approach as well. Soon Luna was surrounded by the entire lot and she had to start breaking up the bread in smaller pieces so that there would be enough to go around.

She was so occupied be the little animals that she didn't notice as a very large man began to approached them. He was flanked on either side by two huge horses. Harry figured from Gandalf's description that this must be Beorn. He was indeed as Gandalf had described. Very large, very strong looking, and with a thick black beard. _I was right. He looks exactly like a smaller version of Hagrid._ Harry thought.

"They don't look dangerous. You can be off!" he said to the horses as he approached the group. Harry saw that he had a rather large, and very sharp looking axe propped over his shoulder. "Who are you and what do you want?" he asked gruffly, when he was standing in front of them and towering tall above Gandalf.

"I am Gandalf," said the wizard.

"Never heard of him," growled the man, "And who are these?" he said looking over the rest of the company.

"This is Mr. Potter and Miss Lovegood," Gandalf replied, indicating Harry and Luna. "Mr. Baggins, a hobbit of good family and unimpeachable reputation. Also Thorin Oakenshield and his company. They are traveling East towards the Iron Hills, and it is only by accident that we are here in your lands. We were waylaid by Goblins in the mountains and had no choice but to make our escape this way."

"Goblins?" said the big man a little less gruffly. "So you've been having trouble with them have you? What did you go near them for?"

"We did not mean to. They surprised us at night in a pass which we had to

cross. We were planning on taking the Northern pass through Mirkwood when we were attacked. We only just managed to escape."

"Hmfff!" he grunted. "Very well. I guess I'm stuck with unwanted visitors for a day or two. Come up to the house and I'll find a place for you all to stay tonight. Supper is at dusk," and with that he turned his back on the company and strode off towards the cottage, axe still on his shoulder.

-=ooo000ooo=-

This is how, about an hour later, they all found themselves in Beorn's front yard with Gandalf telling the huge man their tale of their trip through the mountains and their encounter with the Goblins. Beorn listened to their tale without too much comment, save the occasional question. Although he wouldn't admit it though, he was beginning to get very interested in they're tale. He had once lived in this part of the mountains long ago, and knew that part of the world very well.

When Gandalf's story came to where they were all forced into the trees and the Goblin's horrid song when they set the trees on fire, he said "I wish I had been there! I would have given them more than fireworks!"

"Well," said Gandalf very glad to see that his tale was making a good

impression, "I did the best I could. If it weren't for the Eagles…well I don't know what would have happened to us."

By the time he finished his tale, the sun had fallen behind the peaks of the mountains and the shadows were getting long in Beorn's garden.

"A very good tale!" he said finally. "The best I have heard for a long while. If all

beggars told such entertaining ones they might find me kinder. You're probably making it all up, of course, but you deserve supper at least for the story all the same. Let's have something to eat!"

"Yes, please!" they all said together. "Thank you very much!"

Beorn clapped his hands together and four white ponies trotted up to him. He said something to them in a strange language, and they then trotted off. "Come." He told them. "Supper will be laid in about a half an hour." And then led them to a large table, around which was set chairs and polished log stools. On the table were wooden plates and drinking bowls. In fact nothing save the knives were made of metal at all.

There they had a supper, the likes of which they had not had since they left

Elrond's house in Rivendale. The torches and the fire flickered about them, but the table was lit by two large red beeswax candles. All through they're meal, Beorn told them tales of the wild lands on this side of the mountains, and of Mirkwood Forest which bordered his lands.

The dwarves listened with much interest, for they knew that they must soon venture into those woods. Harry told them that Mirkwood sounded much like the Forbidden Forrest back home, and though he knew they had to go through it, he wasn't looking forward to it. Whatever Luna thought of Beorn's description of Mirkwood, she didn't share.

When dinner was over, the Dwarves started telling tales of their own, but Beorn seemed to be growing disinterested, and paid little attention to them. They spoke mostly of gold and silver and jewels and the making of things by smith-craft, and Beorn didn't seem to care for such things. He lived a simple life here with his animals, and didn't care much for the happenings outside his lands.

They sat long at Beorn's table with their wooden drinking-bowls filled with mead and the last of the wine that Harry and Luna had brought with them from Rivendale, and soon the dark night came on outside. The fires in the middle of the hall were built up afresh, and the torches were put out.

Whether it was magic or the wine, Bilbo soon found himself beginning to nod with sleep. He had just nodded off, when he woke with a start. The door in Beorn's hall had creaked and slammed. Beorn was gone.

The Dwarves, who had all been sitting around the large fire, didn't seem to be bothered too much by this, and soon they began to sing:

_The wind was on the withered heath,_

_but in the forest stirred no leaf:_

_there shadows lay by night and day,_

_and dark things silent crept beneath._

_The wind came down from mountains cold,_

_and like a tide it roared and rolled;_

_the branches groaned, the forest moaned,_

_and leaves were laid upon the mould._

_The wind went on from West to East ;_

_all movement in the forest ceased,_

_but shrill and harsh across the marsh_

_its whistling voices were released._

_The grasses hissed, their tassels bent,_

_the reeds were rattling-on it went_

_o' er shaken pool under heavens cool_

_where racing clouds were torn and rent._

_It passed the lonely Mountain bare_

_and swept above the dragon's lair :_

_there black and dark lay boulders stark_

_and flying smoke was in the air._

_It left the world and took its flight_

_over the wide seas of the night._

_The moon set sail upon the gale,_

_and stars were fanned to leaping light. (1)_

They sang many other songs as well, nearly all about the dragon or about the loss of their ancient home, but by the time they were done with the second song, Mr. Baggins was fast asleep by the fire.

-=ooo000ooo=-

Luna smiled as they finished they're song. "I like it." She said softly to Harry. "It reminds me of when Daddy and I used to sit around the campfire when we were out looking for Snorkacks in Sweden."

Harry saw that while her smile disappeared, and her lower lip trembled slightly as she mentioned her father, she hadn't started crying this time. Luna was slowly getting better. He put his arm around her and pulled her into a gentle one arm hug. "I wish I had known him better Luna. He must have been an amazing man."

Luna didn't answer him, but leaned closer into the hug. She had brought one of the Snorkacks with her when they had entered Beorn's house, and she was stroking the small animals fur while they were sitting there listening to the Dwarves sing, and Harry saw that it seemed to give her a great deal of comfort, and the Snorkack for it's part, didn't try to get away. It just lay there contentedly on her lap as she stroked it's fur and occasionally scratched it behind the ears, just like a cat. It seemed to sense instinctively that there was no harm in Luna.

Suddenly Gandalf stood and addressed the company. "It is time for us to

sleep," be said, "for us, but not I think for Beorn. We can all rest safe and sound in this hall, but I warn you all not to forget Beorn's warning: You

must not stray outside until the sun is up, at your peril."

Harry saw that deep blankets had been laid out around the edges of the hall by the animals, and they had all been provided with pillows. Harry got up and walked quietly over to Bilbo. He took out his wand and levitated the Hobbit over to one of the blankets, and after placing him on one of them, covered him over with another. _He'll be wondering how he got here tomorrow morning._ He thought with a chuckle.

He saw that Luna had claimed two blankets and pillows for herself and Harry close to the fireplace, and had moved them next to one another. She was already lying down when Harry, who had just finished taking care of Bilbo, came back over to her. He kicked off his boots, and got down on his blanket facing Luna. The little Snorkack was in between them and seemed to be asleep. "Goodnight Luna." He said to her, and then summoning up all his Gryffindor courage, he leaned over, (being very careful not to squash her little chaperone) and gently kissed her on the cheek.

Luna smiled at him, and reaching up, stroked the side of his face. "Goodnight Harry." And then turning to the Snorkack added, "And goodnight to you too Fuzz." (2)

Harry blinked. "Fuzz?"

"That's what he told me his name was." She said in a matter of fact way that left no room for question.

Harry chuckled. "My mistake. Goodnight to you as well Fuzz." He said as he petted the animals head.

The hall by now was quiet, with only the sounds of the crackling fire, and the crickets chirping outside. Soon they were all sound asleep.

(1) Song taken from The Hobbit. Copyright 1937, J.R.R. Tolkien.

(2) I borrowed this name from Bobmin's Sunrise Over Britain.


	10. Chapter 10  On to Mirkwood

A/N 1: Thanks to everyone who sent in reviews last chapter. (There's another note at the end.)

Chapter 10: On to Mirkwood

When Harry awoke the next morning, Luna was still asleep, Fuzz curled up against her. He raised his head slightly when Harry started to get up, but otherwise didn't seem concerned, and quickly put his head back down and closed his eyes again. Harry saw that the Dwarves were already all up and having their breakfast at Beorn's table.

"Ah, I see you're up at last Mr. Potter," said Thorin. "You had better wake Miss Lovegood as well if you want there to be anything left to eat this morning."

Harry nodded groggily, and then turned back to go and wake up Luna. When he got to her, he squatted down and put his hand on her shoulder, shaking her softly. "Luna, time to wake up. It's morning." No answer, so he tried again, this time with a slightly harder shake. "Luna, wake up." No answer, but Fuzz raised his head and looked at him questionably.

_She must have been really tired last night. _He thought to himself, and decided to try one last time, and if she didn't wake he's leave her to sleep and she could have some of the food they had in their packs if there was nothing left. "Luna…"

With he eyes still closed, Luna spoke softly, "Don't you know that if you want a girl to wake up you're supposed to give them a good morning kiss Harry?"

Harry blinked. _She's been awake all this time. She just wanted a good morning kiss._ He thought, shaking his head, and then leaning over her, careful not to crush the Snorkack, he kissed her softly on the cheek. "Time to get up Miss Lovegood, breakfast is ready and if you don't hurry, there won't be any left."

Luna opened her eyes, and in a perfectly normal voice said. "Good morning Harry. Sleep well?"

Harry chuckled. "Very well. The best in a very long time actually. You?"

"Oh very well thank you." And then looking down at the Snorkack asked "What about you Fuzz, did you sleep well?"

The little animal looked up at her and made a soft noise that sounded to Harry like a cross between a cats purr and a buzzing sound. "I guess that means yes." He said to her.

The Snorkack buzzed again, this time looking up at Harry, and then proceeded to hop off towards the open door and outside, to do his morning business Harry assumed.

Luna got up and after stretching a bit, made her way with Harry to the table and breakfast. They saw that there was plenty left for them, even though the Dwarves and Bilbo had stuffed themselves.

Harry looked around, and not seeing Gandalf, asked Thorin where he was.

"Out and about somewhere." The Dwarf replied, "Since early this morning. He told us he's likely be back by supper time."

"You don't think he up and left do you Harry?" Luna asked.

"No I doubt it. He wouldn't leave without saying goodbye." Harry answered. "He's probably just out investigating what all the all the noise was last night."

"Noise? What noise?"

"Oh there was a lot of growling coming from the grounds early this morning. Sounded like a couple of large animals prowling around. Probably Beorn in his bear form."

Bilbo, who had been listening to this, shuddered slightly at the thought of a large bear prowling the grounds while they all slept, and decided that he needed more food to calm himself. Yes, more food would do nicely.

-=ooo000ooo=-

It wasn't till nearly the end of the day when Gandalf returned. The old wizard looked exhausted, and said nothing to any of them. He simply went to the dinner table and started to eat, all the while ignoring the many questions that were directed at him. By the time he was finished, he had put away two whole loaves of bread, along with massive amounts of honey and cream, and 2 large flagons of mead.

But it was another 20 minutes or so before anyone could get anything out of him as to where he's been and what he's been doing. This seemed to bother the Dwarves more than anyone else, because Dwarves as many of you may know, are a people of very little patience. Fierce and brave when need be, and hard workers to be sure. But patience? That is not something the maker blessed them with.

But finally, between puffs on his pipe he said, "If you must know, I was out following bear tracks since this morning. There was a bears' meeting outside here late last night, and by the number of tracks I found, I could plainly see that there were far too many of them for Beorn to have made them all."

No one seemed too surprised at this news as they had all heard the bear gathering the night before. Well, everyone but Luna it seemed.

"They came from every direction, except west from the Mountains. In that direction only one set of footprints was to be found, and then only leading away. I followed these as far as the Carrock, where we first entered Beorn's lands, and there they disappeared into the river. I tried to cross it, but it was far too deep and fast flowing for me to do so safely. So I had to walk miles before I found a place where the river was both shallow and narrow enough for me to cross it. But of course then I had to walk miles back so I could pick up the track again, and by that time it was too late for me to follow them far. But from the direction the were pointing, they went straight towards the woods on the east side of the mountains where we had our less than pleasant encounter with the Wargs the night before last." And then looking at all of them asked, "Does that answer all your questions?"

Everyone was silent, thinking about everything the old Wizard had told them. It was Bilbo that broke that silence though as he have a cry "What shall we do if he leads the Wargs and Goblins down here to us? I thought you told us he wasn't a friend of theirs Gandalf?"

"So I did." The Wizard replied. "There are few people Beorn truly likes, many he dislikes, but only a few he truly despises. The Goblins and Wargs are two of those. No, he hasn't gone to lead them here. He has gone to see if the story we told him last night was the truth, or a story we made up to get his help."

There was silence all around again, this time broken by Luna. "So what do you suggest we do Gandalf? Stay or leave?"

"We stay. Beorn will return, either tomorrow or the day after, and as our story is true. Something he will find out in short order, we will have nothing to fear from him when he does return."

-=ooo000ooo=-

The remainder of the day went pleasantly for the company, well all except for Bilbo. He was still worried about Beorn. What if Gandalf was wrong? He didn't want to end up as Hobbit stew for some Goblin raiding party. He told Harry his worries, who he found outside with Luna. Harry though was able to re-assure him that it was unlikely Gardalf was wrong about this and he shouldn't worry. So Bilbo went off to see if there was any way he could get a little something to eat. Worrying made a hobbit hungry.

As for Harry and Luna, they had been playing with Fuzz when Bilbo found them out in the field next to Beorn's house. The little Snorkak had if anything, grown closer to Luna it seemed, and she to it. This worried Harry slightly. What if when they returned to Britain they couldn't bring Fuzz with them? Or what if something happened to the little animal, which he was sure was going to end up joining their company when they left to continue on to the Lonely Mountain?

This of course led his thoughts towards Luna herself. What was happening between them? Sure Luna had been his friend since his fifth year, but was she something else now? And did he want her to be?

He was pretty sure he knew the answer to that question. He's been thinking about it since that morning in Rivendell after he's claimed the sword. True, Luna hadn't expected him to wake when he did, but he was pretty sure she had deliberately gone over to the window, knowing the sun would shine right through the nightgown she was wearing, and giving him more than a good look at he and what she was wearing…or not wearing in this case. Luna might be a lot of things, but stupid wasn't one of them.

"Anything wrong Harry?" Luna suddenly asked him, "You had a blank, spaced out look on your face there for a bit. You're not becoming like me are you?" she asked with a laugh.

"What? Oh sorry Luna, no. There's nothing wrong. I was just thinking about some…stuff."

"You mean like the trip we're on, or other _stuff?_"

"Well yeah, the trip. The mountain, and…" Here Harry trailed off into something in un-audible.

"I'm sorry Harry, I didn't hear that last part. Could you repeat it for me?"

Harry gulped. _Come on Harry. Pull your head out of your arse and tell her the truth. Where's the Gryffindor courage you're supposed to have? _He thought to himself. _You've either fallen in love with her or you're damn close. TELL HER!_

"I ah….I was also thinking about….about you Luna, and that morning in Rivendell when you went over to open the ah….the drapes." He finally got out.

He wasn't sure, but it looked to him as though the color in Luna's cheeks increased as he got this last part out. But it also could have been the light.

"I'm sorry Harry. I wasn't thinking that morning, and I didn't mean to offend you in any way. I know you don't feel that way about me and…"

Harry saw where she was going with this and almost by instinct he reached out and took her hand. "Luna, stop." He told her. "I felt a lot of things when I saw you standing in front of that window, but offence wasn't one of them. If fact, I think that memory will be what I think of next time I have to conjure a Patronus."

This time he knew he wasn't imaging it. Luna definitely started blushing.

He went on. "Luna, what's happening between us? I look at you and I start having feelings unlike anything I've ever felt. I want to hold you and to protect you, and not because I think you can't protect yourself. Anyone who can take out someone like Bellitrix Lestrange with three spells doesn't need protection. But at the same time I…" Here Harry trailed off again.

"Harry, what are you saying?" Luna asked with a slight tremble in her voice.

"I…I don't know what I'm saying Luna, because I've never had feelings like this before, for anyone."

"What about Ginny. You must have felt something like this for her." She replied.

"No. Ginny is a good friend, and on some level I know I love her…but I think of her the same way I do about Hermione. She's like a sister to me, and I know that anything beyond that wouldn't feel right."

Luna seemed to be a bit surprised at this. "But Harry. You've got to know she's been in love with you since her first year. Don't you?"

Harry shook his head. "No Luna. Ginny has gotten better in the last few years, but I think she still only sees _The Boy Who Lived._ It's never been me. Now if you'd said Hermione, I would at least have considered it possible because she at least does know _me._ But even then, I know she loves Ron."

"And what about me? Don't you think that I could be all caught up in _The Boy Who Lived_ mythos as well, or that I could just be looking to replace…Neville with someone new?" she asked hesitantly, almost like she was afraid to ask the question.

Harry smiled. "No Luna. Do you remember the first time we met on the train? You were sitting alone in one of the cabins and we came in and Ginny asked you if you'd mind if we sat there with you? You were reading a copy of the Quibbler…_upside down_ if I remember. I still don't know how you can do that."

Luna started to giggle at that "Actually," she replied, "I wasn't reading it upside down. I switched the cover around so that _it_ was upside down but the inside was right side up. I just thought that it would make people keep their distance if they thought I was a bit…off."

Harry shook his head unbelievably. "Anyhow, after you said we could sit in there with you, you looked right at me before Ginny even got around to introducing us and you said "You're Harry Potter."

Luna simply nodded, not really sure what point he was trying to make.

"Well you looked at me for a few seconds, and I thought _"Oh no, here we go again. Another fan girl."_ But instead you just went back to reading the Quibbler as if you'd just looked at something no more interesting than a cup of cold tea."

Luna didn't comment on this so Harry went on. "I think you saw _me,_ right from the start Luna, and that's something no one has ever done, except maybe for Dumbledore."

"But what about…"

"As for you just trying to replace Neville? You couldn't do that. Not just for then sake of replacing him. You are probably the most tightly guarded person I've ever met Luna, and I've known that even before you told me your secret. But in your own way, you are also one of the most open. You don't even let people get near the walls you've built to protect yourself, let alone actually inside them, because I think you're afraid of being hurt, and because of feeling that way, you'd never do anything like that to someone else. Something that would hurt them the way you're afraid of being hurt."

Luna's had dropped her head down half way through what Harry was saying, and he saw that she was crying softly. Finally though she looked up at him. "When mummy died…when she was killed, my whole world fell apart. Putting up those walls was the only way for me to deal with what I was feeling. I even kept daddy at a distance, although not as far. I knew he loved me and that he always would, but in the back of my mind I was still afraid that something would happen to take him away from me and I'd be hurt again. Then when it came time for me to come to Hogwarts, I did the same thing. Taking what I knew would seem like odd behavior and exaggerating it so people wouldn't want to be around me. So that I'd be safe."

Luna had dropped her head again as she told this last part, and Harry had lift her chin up she that was looking at him. "Luna, do you think you'll ever be able to let someone get past those walls? I mean, do you think you'll ever be able to trust me enough to let me in?"

Luna sniffed, and another tear fell slowly down her cheek. "You got in Harry." She said softly, "I tried to keep you out, but you got in."

Harry reached out and pulled her into a tight hug. "Luna Lovegood, I think I'm falling in love with you." He whispered in her ear. At these words, Luna felt much of the emotional baggage she had been carrying around for the last 7 years lift from her soul. It was as if she thought, she had been locked up inside a house and had finally been able to get out into the sun.

-=ooo000ooo=-

It wasn't until morning, the day after next, that they found out that Beorn had finally returned, and they only found out when he himself woke them.

"So you're all still here!" he said. He picked up the hobbit and laughed. "And I see you've managed to not be eaten by Wargs or Goblins or wicked bears in my absence." As he said this, he poked Bilbo's stomach gently, albeit most disrespectfully. "Little bunny is getting nice and fat again on bread and honey I see," he chuckled. "Come and have some more, there's plenty!"

So they all went to Beorn's hall and sat down to breakfast with him. The giant man seemed quite jolly for a change, and soon had them all laughing with his funny stories. Nor did they have to wonder for very long where he had been or why he was in so grand a mood, for he told them himself. He had been over the river and had traveled far back up into the mountains. From the burnt trees he had soon found out that part of their story at least was true. But he had found out much more than that. He had come across a Warg and a Goblin on patrol in the woods, undoubtedly looking for any signs of the Dwarves.

From the Goblin he had gotten news. The goblin patrols were still hunting with Wargs for the Dwarves, and they were extremely angry because of the death of the Great Goblin. So angry in fact that a massive raid was being planned by the Goblins and their Warg allies into the lands that were shadowed by the mountains, to either find the Dwarves or to take vengeance on the men and creatures that lived there, and who they thought must be sheltering them.

"It was a good story that you told," said Beorn, "but I find I like it much better now that I know for sure it's true. Please, you must forgive my not taking your word. But if you lived right on the edge of Mirkwood, you wouldn't trust the word of anyone didn't know as well as your brother or even better. As it is, I can only tell you that I came back home as fast as I could to make sure that you were safe, and also to offer you any help that I can. I shall definitely think more kindly of dwarves in the future. Killed the Great Goblin, killed the Great Goblin! By the Gods!" he chuckled fiercely to himself.

"What did you do with the goblin and the Warg?" asked Bilbo suddenly.

"Come and see, they're outside!" said Beorn, and led them out and round the house. They saw that the Goblin's head was stuck outside the gate on a pike, and a warg-skin was nailed to a tree just beyond it. Beorn was a fierce enemy. But now he was their friend, and Gandalf thought it wise to tell him their whole story and the truth behind their journey.

This is what he agreed to do for them. He would provide ponies for each of

them, also horses for Gandalf, Harry and Luna for their journey to the forest. He would also lade them with food, which if they were careful, would last them for weeks. He would also give them other staples such as flour, nuts, and pots of honey. Also, twice-baked cakes that would keep good for weeks and allow them to march far.

The making of these was one of his secrets, and Gandalf suspected they were similar to the _Lembas_ made by the High Elves of Lothlorian. All Beorn would say of them was that honey was in them, as it was in most of his foods, and they were good to eat. "Although," he added, "They do make one thirsty."

Water, he told them, they would not need to worry about on this side of the forest, for there were numerous streams and springs all along the road. "But make sure you fill all your skins before you start into Mirkwood. It is dark, dangerous and difficult," he said. "Water is not easy to find there, nor is food. Nuts are not yet in season, though it may be by the time you get to the other side, and nuts are about the only thing that grows there that is fit to eat. There are also wild animals that are dark and savage. I will provide you with extra water skins, and I have some bows and arrows you can take as well. But I doubt if anything you find in the forest will be wholesome to eat or to drink. There is one stream there that I must warn you about. It is black and has a very strong current, and it crosses the path you will be following. Do not under any circumstances drink from it or bathe in it, as it carries an enchantment of great drowsiness and forgetfulness. Finally, whatever else you may do, you MUST NOT stray from the path, because only on it will you be safe from the things that live in Mirkwood."

He sighed. "That is all the advice I can give you. Once you enter Mirkwood, I cannot help you and you must depend on your luck and courage, as well as the food I'm sending with you. At the gate of the forest though, I must ask you to send back my horses and ponies. I wish you all the protection of the Gods, and know that my house is open to you, if ever you come back this way again."

All of them thanked him, with many a bows and sweepings of their hoods

from the Dwarves, and many an "At your service!" thrown in for good measure, but their spirits sank as well at his words of caution. With Bilbo thinking that this adventure was turning out to be far more dangerous than he had thought it would be. Plus there was still the dragon waiting for them at the end. (If they survived the forest that is)

All the rest of the morning the company was busy making preparations for their departure, and it was after midday whey they sat to eat with Beorn for the final time. They had decided to leave right after lunch, and after the meal they mounted the steeds he brought to them. Bidding Beorn a final farewell, they rode off through his gate, and crossing the Carrock, on towards the dark looming forest in the distance.

-=ooo000ooo=-

A/N 2: Thanks again to all of you who haven't given up on this story. Well I HOPE you haven't given up on it in any case because I haven't. If anyone is also reading my other story, then you know the reason for the very long delay between chapters is because of my being put on the night shift, and having practically no time to write.

Also, the scene between Harry and Luna was an extremely hard one to write.

Until next time.


	11. Chapter 11 - The Trip to Mirkwood

A/N1: Thanks to everyone who sent in reviews and comments last chapter. I really appreciate it.

Chapter 11: The Trip to Mirkwood

The company had been traveling for three days. Their path was a easy one, and as Beorn had told them, fresh water streams had been plentiful all along the way. The dwarves and Bilbo were all riding ponies, while Harry, Luna, and Gandalf were all on full sized horses.

They had posted guards each night when they stopped, but there was no sign of the goblins that they knew were likely perusing still them. Although one night when it was Bilbo's turn to stand the watch, he was sure that he saw the form of a huge bear off in the distance, but it never came close to their camp. He mentioned this to Gandalf the next morning, but the old wizard just told him to ignore it, and would say no more.

A few times Bilbo saw small herds of deer off in the distance, grazing and generally doing the things that deer do.

The next day they out just before dawn, and as soon as it was light they could see the forest coming as if it were rising up to meet them, or waiting for them like a black and frowning wall before them.

Birds, they noticed, seemed to sing less. There were no more deer. Not even rabbits or Billy Bumblers were to be seen. By the afternoon they had reached the edge of Mirkwood, and were resting underneath the great overhanging limbs of it's outer trees. Their trunks were massive, and Harry saw that they were giant Redwoods, all gnarled and twisted with age. Ivy and moss grew on them and trailed along the ground.

"Well, here is Mirkwood!" said Gandalf. "The greatest of the forests of the

Northern world. Now you must send back these excellent ponies you have borrowed."

The dwarves started to grumble at this, but the wizard told them they

were being foolish. "Beorn is not as far away as you may think, and you had best not break your promises. He is a great friend, but he is an even greater enemy, and he has been following us this whole trip, sitting far off in the moonlight watching our camps. Not only to guard you, but to keep an eye on the ponies as well. Beorn may be your friend, but he loves his animals as his children. You cannot guess what kindness he has shown you in letting you ride them so far and fast, nor what would happen to you, if you broke your promise and tried to take them into the forest."

"What about your horse, then?" asked Thorin. "You don't mention sending that back."

"I don't, because I am not sending it back."

"What about your promise then?"

"I am not sending the horse back, I am riding it, and I will escort the ponies and other two horses back as well. Though doubtless they could find their way home on their own."

It was then they realized Gandalf was going to leave them at the very edge of

Mirkwood, and nothing they could say would change his mind.

"Hush now," he told the Dwarves. "we talked about all this before, when we first approached the Carrock," he said. "It is no use arguing, as it will do no good. I have, as I told you, pressing business away South, and I am already late because of you. I had originally planned on sending only Mr. Baggins with you, but your luck improved greatly when I came across Mr. Potter and Miss Lovegood. They have powers and abilities that you have only seen glimpses of so far, and as for Mr. Baggins, I have told you before that he has more about him than you guess. So cheer up Thorin and Company, we may meet again before all is over. That depends on your luck and on your courage and sense."

So now there was nothing left to do but to fill their water-skins at a spring they found close to the forest entrance, and unpack the ponies. They tried distributing the packages as fairly as they could, but Bilbo found his pack was wearisomely heavy, and did not at all like the idea of trudging for miles and miles with all that on his back. Luna had offered to lighten Bilbo's pack using magic. An offer he gratefully accepted. But the Dwarves declined, saying that the weight was no bother.

"I wonder if they'd say that if they had to carry the packs we have?" he asked Luna quietly. Their packs had feather weight charms on them, so they only weighed a few pounds. But without them they would have been well over 200. Most of it was dried and shrunken food, enough to last the company for months if they were careful. They also carried the water bottles that Harry had first transfigured when they arrived in this world.

"They probably would." Luna answered him, shaking her head. "Dwarves seem to take pride in how well they carry burdens, and the last thing they would want, it to appear weak."

Finally, at last, they said good byes to their ponies and horses, and released them so they could head for home. As they trotted away, they seemed very glad to put their tails towards the shadow of Mirkwood, and as they went, Bilbo could have sworn he saw the great bear leaving the shadow of the trees and shamble off quickly after them. Bilbo had gone just inside the forest after breakfast (a very meager on in his opinion), and it had seemed to him that it was as dark under the trees as early night was outside. Also, it seemed very secret: Like there was someone or _something_ watching him.

Now it was time for Gandalf to bid them farewell." Good-bye!" he said to them all. "Straight through the forest is your way now, and don't stray off the path! If you do, it is a thousand to one you will ever find it again and ever get out of Mirkwood, or ever be seen again for that matter."

"Do we really have to go through?" groaned the hobbit.

"Yes, you do!" answered the old wizard, "if that is you want to get to the other side. You must either go through the forest, or give up your quest. And I am not going to allow you to do that Mr. Baggins. You have help Mr. Potter and Miss Lovegood look after all these Dwarves for me. Otherwise their quest will be for naught." he said solemnly.

"No! no!" said Bilbo. "I didn't mean that at all. I meant, is there no way to go round the forest rather than through?"

"There is, if you want to go two hundred miles or so out of your way North, and twice that South. But even if you did, you wouldn't find it a safer path even then. We are in the wild, and there are no safe paths in this part of the world. Before you could get round Mirkwood in the North you would be among the slopes of the Grey Mountains, and they are simply full of goblins, orcs, and hobgoblins of the worst description. And before you could circle it in the South, you would find yourselves in the lands of the Necromancer, and even you Bilbo, don't need me to tell you tales of that black sorcerer. I would not advise ANYONE to go near any of the the places overlooked by his dark

tower! Stick to the forest path, because as dangerous as it is, it is still the safest option open to you. If you keep your spirits up, and hope for the best, you may come out one day and see the Long Marshes laid out below you, and the Lonely Mountain high in the East, where dear old Smaug lives. Although, I do hope he is not expecting you."

"Very comforting you are," grumbled Thorin. "Well good-bye then! If you won't come with us, you had better get off without any more talk!"

"I will be off shortly. But I wish to have a word with Mr. Potter and Miss Lovegood first before I take my leave of you." He told Thorin.

"Oh?" asked Thorin, a suspicious tone in his voice. "what about?"

"What I have to say to them is from one wizard to another, and none of your concern. I assure you it is nothing that will do any of you any harm." And on this subject he would say no more, but simply motioned Harry and Luna to come over to him.

-=ooo000ooo=-

When the three of them were alone, he said softly, so as not to be overheard, "I wanted to first thank you both for going along on this adventure. You're agreeing to do so has greatly improved the chances of it succeeding. Second, I also wanted to tell you that despite Beorns and my warnings not to leave the forest path, if you feel you need to, do so."

Harry was about to say something to this, but Gandalf held his had up to cut him off. "The warning is because the forest is so dense and dark that if one were to leave the path, even for a short time, it would be very easy to get lost. That and there are enchantments on the entire path, put there by the Elves that keep dangerous things out. But it has been many many years since I have traveled through Mirkwood, before the two of you were born in fact, and I no longer know for certain what is the same, and what has changed."

"So we should follow the path unless something extremely unexpected comes up?" asked Luna.

"Precisely." Answered Galdalf. "Also, you should know that Elves still live in Mirkwood as well. They are ruled by Thranduil, the King of the Elves of Northern Mirkwood, and it is they that made and guard all the passes through the forest. They may be able to help you if you find yourselves in need."

"Why wouldn't you want Thorin and the rest of the Dwarves to know of this?" Harry asked him. "Why just us?"

"Because Dwarves do not get along with most Elves. They have had…disagreements in the long past, and as such, neither trust the other."

"But they didn't seem to have any problem when we stopped at Rivendell, and Thorin seemed to hold Elrond in very high regard." Luna replied.

"Elrond is one of the High Elves, and they are an exception. They are the closest to royalty as you will find in this world, and very few treat them with distain, even the Dwarves. But the Wood Elves are different. They are of a lower class, and as such act differently towards outsiders."

"Are they dangerous then?" Harry asked. "and should we avoid them if possible?"

"No they are not dangerous as such, but they are very wary of any outsiders if they don't know them well. They will know you are in the forest before a week has passed, but they shouldn't trouble you. However," he added, "if you do meet find yourselves in trouble and have to go to them, you will be brought before Thranduil. Tell him that you are a companion of mine. They know me as _Mithrandir._"

"Mithrandir?" Harry asked, "You do seem to go by a lot of names Gandalf. Any others we should know about?" he asked with a smirk.

Gandalf chuckled softly. "A few others, but none that you will encounter. But as I was saying, when you tell him this, he will want proof. Tell him that the last time we met in his halls, it was to discuss the growing evil in the South. There were only three at this meeting. Myself, him, and one other that none knew about. This will be his proof."

"And who was this other?" Luna asked.

"Galadriel, Queen of the High Elves of Lothlurien. She traveled in secret so as not to alert our enemies, and none save Thranduil knew of her presence there in his realm. In fact, it is Galadriel's daughter Celebrían who is married to Elrond."

"I didn't realize Elrond was married. Why didn't we meet his wife when we were there?" Harry asked.

"That," Gandalf said sadly, "is a long story. Too long to be told now, and it really is Elrond's tale to tell if he wishes. But for now, that is all I wished to tell you both, that, and to stay safe."

"Thank you for telling us Gandalf. It's good to know that there is someone we can go to in the forest if need be. Even if Thorin and the rest won't like it." Harry said to him.

"Do you really have some place to be, or were you just saying that so that the Dwarves will have to rely on themselves?" Luna asked him.

"No I was not just saying that Miss Lovegood. There is a meeting of the White Council that I must attend. I'm am going to try and convince them that the time has come to drive the Necromancer out of his stronghold in the South. But that also is a story for another time. Come, we must get back to the company."

Harry and Luna nodded, and they started back to Bilbo and the Dwarves.

"So," Thorin said gruffly when they returned, "are you finished with you secret meeting then?"

"We are." Gandalf replied. Ignoring the Dwarves tone. "I just came back to say a final good-bye to all of you, and to wish you good luck with your quest."

Then, turning his horse, he rode down into the West.

"O good-bye and go away!" grunted the dwarves, all the more angry because they were really filled with dismay at losing him.

But the old wizard could not resist the urge to have the final word. Before he had passed out of hearing and out of sight, he turned and putting his hands to his mouth, called back to them.

"Good-bye! Take care of yourselves…and DON'T LEAVE THE PATH!"

Then he galloped away and was soon lost to sight, leaving the company to began the most dangerous part of their journey.

After he was gone, they each shouldered the heavy packs and the water-skins which were their share, and turned from the light that lay on the lands outside and plunged into the forest.

A/N2: A short chapter I know, but I wanted to separate the trip to the forest, from the actual trip through it. The next chapter, "Into the Dark Again", is half written, so it won't be too long before it's posted. Really! It wont.

Till next time.

TD


	12. Chapter 12 Into the Dark Again

A/N: Well, this is the second attempt at writing this chapter since I lost everything I had. I think it's pretty much what I had before. Thanks everyone for your patience.

Chapter 12: Into the Dark Again

The company had been traveling in Mirkwood for a week, keeping to the clearly defined path through the forest, and so far there had been no problems other than the dark gloomy atmosphere, the stifling air, and the bugs, the last of which they discovered on their first night.

They'd been walking in single file along the path which was very narrow and wound in and out among the trees. It hadn't taken long before the light from the entrance gate, which had been for a while, like a little bright hole in the gloom disappeared, and with it, their last link to the outside world.

Occasionally a slender beam of sunlight did manage to slip in through the upper canopy of leaves far above, but this was seldom, and it soon ceased altogether.

Occasionally they caught sight of black squirrels whisking off the path and scuttling behind tree-trunks, but even they were rare. There were also strange noises in the wood as well. Grunts, scufflings, and hurryings were all around them, but what made the noises none could see. But the worst and nastiest things were the cobwebs. Cobwebs with threads extraordinarily thick, and often stretched from tree to tree. There were none stretched across their path, which all were grateful for, but just the sight of them gave more than one Dwarf the shivers, with Bilbo being the most afraid. Although he managed to calm down somewhat when he saw that neither Harry or Luna seemed to be too bothered by them.

It was not long before all of them, save Luna, grew to hate the Mirkwood as much as they had hated the Goblin tunnels. But they had no choice but to go on and on. For Bilbo though, it felt like the forest was slowly suffocating him.

They all slept as closely huddled together as they could on the path, and took 2 hour shifts to watch. But when it was Bilbo's turn he would see gleams in the darkness all round them, and sometimes eyes. Red, yellow, and occasionally ever green ones peering out at him from the darkness. They would stare at him for a short time, and then fade and disappear, only to re-appear someplace else. But it bothered him most when they would stare out at him from the branches right above him.

The first few nights they tried lighting watch-fires, but they soon gave that up as a bad joke as it brought hundreds and hundreds of eyes all round them. Worse still it brought thousands of dark-grey and black moths and other flying insects, all of the attracted to the flame. Some of these were nearly as big as your hand, and they flapped and whirred round their ears. None of them could stand that, so they gave up the fires and sat at night in complete darkness.

This routine went on, it seemed to Bilbo, for ages upon ages, and it didn't help that he was always hungry, for they were being extremely careful with their provisions. But as the days stretched into weeks, they began to get anxious. Even with the extra food Harry and Luna had packed as a reserve, they all knew it wouldn't last forever, and what the Dwarves had packed was already starting to get low.

This was the state they found themselves in when after coming down a large hill they found the path blocked by a running stream. It was flowing fast and strong, but it wasn't very wide across. And it was black, or it looked so in the gloom. It was a good job that Beorn had warned them about it too, or they would have drunk from it, whatever its color, and filled their emptied skins at its bank.

There had at one time been a wooden bridge across it, but it had long ago rotted away, and now all that was left of the bridge were broken and rotted posts on either bank. Bilbo peered out towards the far side and cried "There is a boat pulled up on the far bank!"

"How far away do you think it is?" asked Thorin, for by now everyone knew Bilbo had the sharpest eyes among them.

"Not at all far. Not more than twelve yards or so." He replied.

"Twelve yards? Thorin asked, "I would have thought it was at least thirty. But then my eyes aren't as good as they were a hundred years ago. Still, it may as well be a mile. It's too far to jump, and we can't wade across because of the enchantment.

"Can any of you throw a rope?" Bilbo asked.

"What's the good of that? Balin snapped. "The boat is sure to be tied up, even if we could get a hook onto it."

"It doesn't look like it's tied up. It looks like it was just pulled up on the bank."

They were still arguing about whether or not the boat was tied and whether or not they could throw a hooked rope onto it, when there was a loud CRACK from where Harry and Luna were standing off to the side. All of the Dwarves and Bilbo turned at once to see what made the sound, and saw that Luna was no longer there. "Where is Miss Lovegood?" asked.

Harry simply chuckled and pointed across the stream toward the spot where the boat was. Sure enough, there was Luna in the process of cutting the boat free.

"How…how did Miss…Luna get over on the other side?" Bilbo asked.

"Well, I guess she just got tired of listening to the lot of you arguing and just Apparated over. She'll be back in a moment or two with the boat."

"Apparated?" asked Fili, "What does that mean?"

"We can disappear from one place and re-appear in another almost instantly. We call it Apparating." Harry explained, "and before you ask, no I can't take all of you across like that. It uses a lot of power to Apparate with someone who isn't magical. Even between Luna and myself, we would only be able to get eight or nine across before we were both magically exhausted."

"So we have to use the boat then?" said Thorin.

"Yeah, but it'll be far easier this way. From the size of the boat, you'll be able to get at least three of you at a time plus some of the luggage. I'll go across and use magic to pull the boat straight across and Luna can pull it back to this side for the next trip."

-=ooo000ooo=-

It took them the better part of two hours to get all the Dwarves and their baggage across the stream. Finally it was the final trip. Bilbo being the lightest, had been paired with Bombur. Between the two of them, they weighed about the same as three regular Dwarves. The trip across went perfectly, with Harry pulling the boat across with a simple _Accio, _but it was when they started to get out, that the trouble started. Bilbo had gotten out without incident, but as Bombur started to climb over the side, a deer ran out of the bushes behind the company and straight at them. Everyone ducked out of the way of the horns they saw coming, and so the deer, a huge buck, missed them. But when it got to the streams edge it made a giant leap right over Bombur's head. It easily cleared the water and continued on without stopping until it was lost from sight. But when it had leaped over Bombur, the Dwarf had had one foot still in the boat and the other on the shore, and was so startled, that he instinctively pushed away from the large animal. But in doing so, he also pushed the boat away from the bank and back into the current.

For a moment he seemed to just hang in middle air, but gravity soon re-asserted itself, and with a loud splash, he tumbled over the side and into the stream.

He disappeared under the surface, but bobbed back to the surface almost at once, sputtering all the while. The other Dwarves started hunting for a rope to throw to him, but Harry pulled out his wand. _"Wingardium Leviosa." _He incanted softly, and Bombur rose out of the river and started to float over to the shore. But by the time Harry got him on the ground, he was already fast asleep.

"Drat the luck!" Thorin swore. "Now what are we going to do?"

There wasn't in fact, much they could do. The Dwarves tried without success to wake their fallen comrade, and Harry even tried an _Enervate_ with the Elder Wand, but nothing worked. Bombur slept on. Though from the smile on his face, they guessed that he at least wasn't in any pain.

-=ooo000ooo=-

It was a gloomy company that night as they tried to sleep, and the gloom got worse as the days passed. Yes, they had managed to pass across the enchanted stream, but beyond it the path seemed to straggle on just as before. Yet if they had known more about the ancient forest, and the meaning of the deer that had appeared upon their path, they would have realized that they were at last approaching the eastern edge, and would soon have come to thinner trees and places where the sun would manage to break through.

But they didn't know this, and of course there was Bombur, which they didn't need to carry because Harry and Luna were taking turns floating along with them, but he was still a constant reminder of things that had gone wrong so far on the trip.

Almost four days had passed since they left the enchanted stream when they came to a part of the wood where the trees were mostly made up of beeches. At first they were inclined to be cheered by the change, because there was no undergrowth and the darkness and shadow was not as deep. There was a

greenish glow about them, and in places they could see some distance to either side of the path. But being able to see more only dashed their cheer, because it only allowed them to see endless lines of straight grey trunks that, at least to them, seemed to go on forever.

At times they heard disquieting laughter. At other times, there was singing in the distance as well. The laughter and singing was that of fair voices and not of goblins, but it sounded eerie and out of place here, and did little to comfort them.

Another three days passed, and they found their path going downwards and soon they were in a valley filled almost entirely with a mighty growth of oaks.

"Is there no end to this blasted forest?" said Thorin. "Somebody is going to have to climb a tree and see if he can get his head above the roof and have a look round."

Of course "somebody" meant Bilbo. He was the smallest and lightest of all of them, and he was they only one that could get to the topmost branches without them breaking. Poor Bilbo had never had much practice in climbing trees as a young Hobbit, but Harry levitated him up to the lowest branches so he could start his climb. "Just go slow Bilbo," Harry told him. "Better to take your time than fall."

He managed to push his way through the branches and twigs, though he got many a slap in the eye for his trouble, and he ended up greened and grimed from the old bark and more than once only just managed to catch himself in time when he slipped. But after nearly an hour of climbing, he got near the top. All the time wondering how he was going to get down again (except by falling).

In the end he poked his head up above the forest canopy, and was nearly blinded by the light. He could hear the dwarves shouting up at him from below, but he couldn't answer, just hold on for dear life and blink. The sun was shining brilliantly, and it was a long time before he could bear it. But when he could, all he could see around him was a sea of dark green, the leaves swaying slightly in the breeze that passed above the trees. Also, there were thousands and thousands of butterflies. And while this story teller is no expert in butterflies, I expect they were a kind of 'Purple Emperor,' a butterfly that loves the tops of oak trees. But these 'Emperor's' were jet black rather than purple.

He looked at the 'Black Emperors' for a long time while he enjoyed the feel of the breeze in his hair and on his face, but the cries of the dwarves, who were by now nearly having fits of impatience, reminded him of real reason he was up there. But no matter which direction he looked, he could see no end to the trees in any direction. His heart had been lightened by the sight of the sun and the feel of the wind, but now it sank back into his toes.

Now as I told you before, they weren't far from the Eastern edge of the forest, and if Bilbo had realized it, the tree that he had climbed was standing near the bottom of a wide valley, so all the trees that were around him seemed to swell up all round like the edges like he was at the bottom of a large bowl. But, he didn't see this, and he climbed down full of despair. He got to the bottom again, scratched, hot, and miserable.

"The forest goes on for ever in all directions!" he told them after having a sip of water.

"What is the use of sending a Hobbit!" they cried, as if it was his fault. They did not care in the slightest about the butterflies, and only got angrier when he told them about the sun and the beautiful breeze he saw and felt.

The Dwarves, grumbling, went back to their camp, leaving the Hobbit at the base of the tree he climbed. "Don't worry about it Bilbo." Harry told him softly and putting a hand on his shoulder. "They're not mad at you. Well, not really."

"No." Luna added. "They're only mad that they're to big and heavy to climb up and feel the sun themselves."

-=ooo000ooo=-

That night, the company was quiet as they ate. The food Harry and Luna brought was getting low. They figured they had enough to last them another week if they were careful, but the water would only hold out for three days at the most before they were forced to drink the foul tasting water he and Luna could make with magic.

The only scrap of comfort that night came unexpectedly from Bombur. He woke up.

He couldn't figure out where he was, or why he felt so hungry. He had forgotten everything that had happened since the morning they left Hobbiton so long ago, and they had a great deal of difficulty in getting him to believe their tale of all the many adventures they had had since.

Later that night, Kili who's turn it was to watch, came and roused them

all, saying: "There's a regular blaze of light not far away. There must be hundreds of torches and fires, and they all seemed to pop up suddenly as if by magic. There's also more singing and music." He told them.

But they could do nothing about it in the dark of the forest. And after lying and listening for a while, they all managed to drift off to sleep.

-=ooo000ooo=-

The next day dawned just like all those before, dark and gloomy, and the company set off along their seemingly endless part once again. But more than one of them began to notice that the path, which had hitherto been completely clear of underbrush, began to become overgrown in places, and they found it getting increasingly harder to keep to it. Finally though, it came to an abrupt end, and no matter how much they searched, they couldn't find where it continued. They were stuck.

In the end, they all decided to go back along the path until they found a clear spot and make their camp for the night. It was getting late in the day, and maybe things would look better in the morning.

-=ooo000ooo=-

Later on when they began to think about what happened that night, they all realized that had it not been for the Hobbit, they all likely would have been dead.

Bilbo had propped himself up against a tree for the night, and soon fell asleep thinking of his far-distant hobbit-hole with its fully stocked pantries. He was dreaming of bacon, eggs and toast with mounds of butter when he felt something touch him.

There was a kind of strong sticky string against his left hand, and when he tried to move and get up, he found that his legs were already wrapped in the same stuff, and so fell over. It was then that he saw the spider who had been busy tying him up while he slept. In the dark, he could only see the things eyes, but he could feel its giant hairy legs as it struggled to wind its threads round him, and he did what anyone would expect someone in his place to do: He left out a shriek that would have woken the dead!

Well, the shriek didn't wake the dead, but it did wake the company.

"_Lumos Maxima!" _Harry shouted after pulling his wand, causing it to light up like a beacon flare, not caring about the flies and moths it might bring.

He saw Bilbo trying to beat off the giant spider with his hands, and was about to go and help him when he saw the others. There were at least forty of the giant spiders, and they had them surrounded. "Luna, use the killing curse if you can. There's too many of them to use anything weaker!"

She tried, but couldn't get it to work. So she switched to R_educto's. _This worked, and Harry saw that it seemed to work better that the AK because these spiders, while big, weren't as tough as the Acromantulas that lived in the Forbidden Forrest back home. The spell caused the spiders to explode, with black blood, spider guts, and hairy legs flying in every direction, and it didn't take long before everyone was covered in the disgusting stuff.

Bilbo however, was in the fight of his life. He had managed to get his right hand down to the hilt of his small sword and pull it out. The spider jumped back when he did this, which gave time to cut his legs loose. After that it was his turn to attack. The spider had never faced things that carried such hidden stings at their sides, or it would beat a hastier retreat. But Bilbo came at it before it could disappear and struck it with his sword right in the eyes. The spider went mad and started leaping and dancing around and flinging it's legs in horrible jerks, until he killed it with a final stroke. He then swooned on his feet and fell down. Remembering nothing for a long while.

-=ooo000ooo=-

He came to his senses later to find Harry and Luna kneeling down next to him. "Are you alright Bilbo?" Harry asked him.

"I…I think so." Bilbo stammered, his head still foggy. "What happened to the spider that I was fighting?"

"Look for your self Mr. Baggins." Harry replied, pointing to the dead spider that was lying three feet from him.

Bilbo turned to look at the dead spider. With a shudder he asked "I killed it? You didn't help?"

"Nope. I was going to but we were distracted by the rest of them. We figure there was at least forty of the foul things."

"I really killed it…by myself?" he asked again disbelievingly.

"All by yourself. But if you need any proof, just look at your sword."

Bilbo glanced down at the Elf made blade and saw that it was stained black with the spiders blood. Somehow the killing of the giant spider, all alone by himself in the dark and without the help of either the Dwarves or the two wizards, made a great difference to Mr. Baggins. A difference that would remain with him to the end of his days. Slowly he got up and then picking up his sword. Wiping the blade clean on the grass, he then held it up it front of him saying "I will give you a name," he said reverently, "and I shall call you Sting."

-=ooo000ooo=-

Once she saw that Bilbo was alright, Luna had gone back to the Dwarves to see if anyone needed any help. She found them cutting five of their party free from the bonds the spiders had wrapped them up in. All five had been completely wrapped up in silk, but when they were finally freed and didn't move, she knew something was seriously wrong. Like Harry, she had learned some battlefield healing spells. Enough to keep someone alive long enough to get them to a proper healer. She cast a diagnostic spell on them, and was horrified at what she saw. "HARRY! She yelled.

Harry ran over to her. "What's wrong Luna?"

"They've been poisoned. It's the spider venom. I think it's dissolving their insides to liquid just like a small spider does to a fly." She told him quickly.

"Shit!" Harry swore. "Do you know anything that can counteract the venom Luna?" he asked her.

"Nothing we have here. But we have to try something. From what I can tell, they have maybe a hour at most."

Harry thought about the Acromantulas back home, and how Ron had been bitten by one the year before. "Put them in stasis. It's not a cure, but it will buy us time to get help."

Speaking for the first time, Thorin asked "Help? From where?"

"From the Elves in the forest. They're the only ones who might know how to help them."

This got the expected response from Thorin that Harry expected, but he cut him off before the Dwarf started. "Look, it's either that, or they're dead. So choose quickly."

"Very well." He said finally. But how will you find them? We don't know where we are or where they are."

"Prongs will find them." Harry said simply, and then concentrating deeply, he waved his wand and the ghostly stag shot out of his wand and silently ran off into the forest.

Thorin jumped when the stag shot out of Harry's wand. He hadn't seen it when he had used it to send Luna a message back when they had the encounter with the trolls. "WHAT…WHAT IN THE GODS WAS THAT?" he stammered.

"That was Prongs. I used him to send a message to the Elves. I told them what happened, and asked them for help." He then turned back to Luna. "How are they Luna?"

"I've got them under the stasis charm Harry, but it'll only give them another 12 hours at the most."

"It'll have to do." he replied grimly. "Hopefully the Elves will get here before their time runs out."


	13. Chapter 13 - Interlude - The White Counc

A/N: My thanks to everyone who sent in reviews or comments. Sorry this chapter and the next took so long, and as always, the characters in the Hobbit and the Harry Potter series belong to their respective authors. In other words, not me.

Interlude: The White Council

Lothlórien - Some time after Gandalf leaves the company at the entrance to Mirkwood

Gandalf was sitting in an open glade, smoking his pipe when a figure approached him. "I see you made it here safely Mithrandir. All is well with the Dwarves I hope?"

Gandalf smiled. "All is well with them Master Elrond, or as well as can be expected. We had some difficulties with the Goblins when we were crossing the mountains, but we managed. I just hope they don't encounter any further problems in Mirkwood."

"Mirkwood Forest is a dangerous place," Elrond replied solemnly. "and I would be much surprised if they _didn't_ encounter problems."

"Well I advised Mr. Potter to contact the King Thranduil if anything serious happens. I didn't bother telling this to Thorin as it would have done no good." Then almost as an afterthought he asked "Have the others arrived yet?"

"Yes. Saruman and Radagast have arrived. The Council is set to start shortly."

"Well we better be off then. It wouldn't do to be late."

Elrond simply nodded, the expression on his face never changing.

-=ooo000ooo=-

"I tell you, we must do something. The pass alone the Grey Mountains has become all but _un-passable_, and if something is not done, the Necromancer will expand his dominion into Mirkwood itself, and then farther South." Gandalf told the assembled group. "If we don't do something, then what is the point of this council?"

"Gandalf my old friend," began an old man sitting to his left, "it is not our duty to right all the wrongs in Middle Earth. That is not why we were sent here."

"Saruman, we were sent here to inspire the people here to resist the growing power of Sauron. But there are no people East of Mirkwood to inspire. They are all under the Necromancer's sway, and I will also tell you this. I am beginning to have doubts about who this Necromancer really is."

"What do you mean Mithrandir?" asked the soft spoken woman facing them.

"When I went looking for Thrain, the father of Thorin Oakenshield, I found him in the dungeons of Dol Guldur. He had been there for many years and his mind was mostly gone, but some of what he did manage to tell me leads me to believe that the Necromancer is none other than Sauron, our enemy of old."

This statement caused a gasp from most of those assembled. Only Saruman seemed to be unfazed, something no one noticed.

"How can you be sure Mithrandir?" asked Elrond.

"I cannot for certain, but look at what has happened. When Sauron was defeated, Mordor was emptied of his followers, and shortly afterwards, the Necromancer first appeared."

"This proves nothing." replied Saruman.

"By itself, no. You are correct. But there is also what I managed to get out of Thrain. He told me that the Necromancer has nine servants that enforce his will in the Grey Mountains. Servants all clad in Black, and that move as shadows and strike fear into anyone who comes close to them. Does that remind you of anything?"

"This is still not proof Gandalf." Saruman almost snapped.

Galdalf slammed his hand down on the table. "Saruman, whether it is Sauron or not, something must be done! Right now, the Necromancer is still vulnerable, and if all of us put forth the power we command, we can drive him out of North before Dol Guldur becomes an even more impenetrateable fortress than it is. Or do you not remember what happened when we failed to do this with Sauron? Furthermore, if the Necromancer is indeed Sauron, as I suspect, it would not surprise me if he has his servants searching for the One Ring even as we sit here."

"That," began Saruman, "would be useless. Have I not devoted countless years to the research of the One Ring? It fell into Anduin the Great long ago, and while Sauron slept, it was rolled down the River and into the Sea. There let it lie until the end of time. The One will never again be found in Middle-earth. So I do not see the need…"

"I do Saruman." replied Galadriel softly. "Mithrandir is correct. It matters not whether the Necromancer is Sauron or some other dark lord. He is gaining power, and unless he is stopped soon, he will become too powerful for even this group to stop easily. We should do everything in our power to drive him out."

"I agree." said Elrond simply. "We were all granted great powers by the Eldar," he began, "Powers to set right great wrongs and to protect the peoples of Middle Earth when necessary. That was the task of the White Council. A task we all agreed to when we joined. If we do not take action now, we will have failed in that task."

Saruman look less than pleased by Elrond's words, and he was silent for a long while. Finally he looked at the fifth member of their group. "And what of you Radagast? You haven't said anything so far."

"I haven't said anything up till now because I was listening to all of you." He faced Gandalf. "Gandalf I agree that there is not enough proof that this Necromancer is Sauron."

Saruman couldn't help the smug look that started to appear on his face.

"And the fact that he appeared shortly after Sauron's fall with nine servants is also not proof. It could simply be that he is trying to emulate Sauron, or to make people believe that he is far more powerful than he truly is. Fear is a very powerful weapon after all. Perhaps the most powerful."

Gandalf started to say something, but Radsgast held up both his hands to stop him. "However, I also agree with Lady Galadriel that he must be stopped. It matters not who he is if he gains control over all of Middle Earth."

Saruman's smug look disappeared.

"So I also agree that we should act."

Gandalf looked again to Saruman. "Well Saruman, will you aid us, or will you continue to block our efforts?"

Saruman scowled at the assembled group, but after a few moments he said, "I do not agree with this course of action. I think it is un-necessary. But I will aid you in this since you all seem to be convinced otherwise."

-=ooo000ooo=-

A/N 2: I've received some comments from readers who've said that I'm keeping too close to the original Hobbit story, and there for, this is nothing very original. Well, in some ways they're right. But there's a reason for this, and the reason is the character of Bilbo. The Hobbit, when you come right down to it, is a coming of age story, even though the character that's coming of age is 50 years old.

Tolkien wrote in his descriptions of Hobbits, that most never ventured beyond the Shire their entire lives. An adventurous one might go as far as Buckland or maybe Bree. But that's it. But here we have a very conservative (even for a Hobbit) character, who not only leaves the Shire, but leaves to fight dragons, spiders, goblins, etc, all in the name of adventure and treasure.

So how do you write a crossover with a character like that and still maintain their integrity? With their abilities, Harry and Luna could do everything, but that would leave Bilbo in the background, little more that another name in the story.

Then there's Harry and Luna themselves. Two very emotionally scarred young people who watched as their entire world tore itself to shreds over something as stupid as bigotry. Two people who, in going along on this quest, are finding not only find themselves, but each other as well.

So yes, I am following the original material closely because Bilbo needs it to grow as a character, and if I ever do the sequel, it will allow me the opportunity to loosen it up considerably, because Bilbo will have raised Frodo to be a lot more independent and open minded than most Hobbits, as Tolkien made him.


	14. Chapter 14 - The Halls of the Elvin King

A/N: Thank to everyone for your patience and your comments.

Chapter 13: The Halls of the Elvin King

It had been nearly three hours since Harry had sent his Patronus off to find help, and the sun was slowly starting to make the forest light up. Every here and there, a thin beam of sunlight was able to break through the dense overhead canopy. Harry supposed that meant the forest was finally starting to thin, and they were close to the edge.

He sensed the approaching Elves before he saw or heard them. It was their magic he supposed. He glanced over at Luna and their eyes met. She simply nodded. "Thorin." He called out.

"Yes Mr. Potter, what's wrong?" Thorin answered him, looking around for trouble.

"Nothing's wrong. The Elves are close by. I would tell the other Dwarves if I were you so that they don't do something…" he wanted to say _stupid_, but decided to be more diplomatic. "unfortunate, because they were surprised."

Thorin nodded. "I'll tell them." He grumbled in a tone that made it clear that he didn't like it."

-=ooo000ooo=-

They didn't have to wait long for the Elves to make their presence known however, as they seemed to jump out of the shadows and completely surround the company with arrows already fitted to their bows, though not drawn. At the sight of the Elves, Thorin's hand shot down to his sword hilt, but he found Harry's hand on top of his almost as fast. "Thorin, don't!" he told the Dwarf. "First, we're outnumbered, and second we need their help."

Thorin seemed to relax a bit, but while he didn't draw his sword, he didn't take his hand off the hilt.

Harry turned his attention to the Elves, but still watched Thorin out of the corner of his eye. "Thank you for answering my call for help." He said to the lead Elf.

The Elf stared at Harry for a few moments before replying. "I am named Legolas," he said. "I have been sent by King Thranduil to see what has disturbed his forest realm."

"We were attacked by giant spiders while we were on the path through the forest and five of our company have been poisoned by them. Can you help us?" Harry asked.

Legolas said something in Elvish and one of the Elves went over to the five Dwarves that were lying on the ground. He bent down to examine them but very quickly looked up at his leader speaking quickly as he did so.

"My brother says there is something very odd about these dwarves," Legolas said to Harry. "He can sense nothing from them."

"I am a Wizard," Harry replied. "and after they were bitten, we put them into a type of very deep sleep to slow the poison. But I can release them if it will help you to examine them."

"Please do so." Legolas replied. "We need to see how bad they are and if we're in time to save them."

Harry nodded and walked over to the dwarves, taking his wand out as he went. "Finite." He said, waving the wand over the prone dwarves. They glowed yellow for a moment, and then the color disappeared. "Please hurry," he said to the Elf that was waiting to examine them, "I want to put them back under as soon as possible, otherwise they'll die."

The Elf didn't answer his but bent down to look the Dwarves over, and after about two minutes, he got back up and nodded to Harry who quickly put the five back into stasis.

The Elf went over to Legolas and started speaking to him again in Elvish. After a few moments Legolas turned back to Harry and said. "Very good. If you can keep them like this till we can get them back to our halls, they can be saved."

"Thank yo-" Harry started to say, but Legolas cut him off.

"But you must disarm and go blindfolded to our halls. We allow no strangers to spy out where we live."

"Now see here!" Thorin started.

"That is acceptable," Harry told the Elf, and then turning to Thorin said "Thorin, I know you don't like to put yourself under anyone's control, especially not blindfolded and unarmed. But we can't save them…they," indicating Legolas and the other Elves, "can, AND if it were YOUR kingdom, would you let strangers just walk in armed?" he asked the Dwarf.

Thorin didn't answer, but Harry could see he was considering it. Even if he didn't like it. "Very well," he finally told Harry, "but if anything happens, I will hold you to account for this."

"Thank you." He said to the Dwarf, and then turning back to Legolas asked, "How will we get them to where we're going. We can't carry them blindfolded."

"We will carry them, and they will come to no harm. Your sword?" he asked holding out his hand."

Harry unbuckled the sword belt but before handing it over said. "Don't draw the sword from the scabbard, the blade is magical, and I don't know what will happen if you do." He warned him.

Legolas looked at him curiously for a moment but nodded, and then took the sword. "Your magic stick as well."

Harry handed his wand to the Elf. He had used his phoenix feather wand to cancel and then re-apply the stasis field on the five dwarves, but he decided not to mention the Elder Wand that was inside a magically spelled wand holster on his arm.

The rest of the Elves went around and disarmed the remaining Dwarves who grumbled, but complied.

What seemed to surprise them though was when Luna almost happily handed over her own wand. They hadn't expected _two_ magicals, and Luna, for her part wasn't worried as she knew Harry still had the Elder Wand concealed on him.

Interestingly enough, they completely missed Bilbo's small sword, er dagger. _I guess they don't think he's dangerous enough looking to search._ Harry thought.

Finally when they were all disarmed and blindfolded, one of the Elves took out a long rope and pressed it into the hands of each of the company. "Hold on to this rope," Legolas told them, "it will keep you all together. We will lead you through clear paths though the forest, and do not try to remove the blindfolds."

More grumbling came from the Dwarves, but at this point there wasn't anything else to do.

-=ooo000ooo=-

The trip through the forest seemed to take forever. Mostly because the company had no idea where they were, and also because the Elves were leading them on a meandering path so the company could not figure out what direction they were heading.

Finally though they were led across a bridge and shortly afterwards, brought to a halt and told they could take off their blindfolds.

They found themselves in a large room, with the Elves that had found them in the forest all around them. Before them was a large throne and upon it sat a regal looking Elf with a garland of berries and red leaves upon his head as a crown. "Which of you is Harry Potter?" he asked.

Harry stepped forward and with a slight bow said "I am your Majesty."

The Elvin King turned his attention to Harry and asked "And what was that creature that entered into my chambers and spoke to me, and why did it come directly to me rather than to one of the other Elves here?"

"It is called a Patronus your Majesty, and it can be used to fight off evil beings in my land or to send short messages. But to send a message, it must be sent to a specific person, and Gandalf, or Mithrandir as he is know to your people, only told me your name. So you were the only I could send it to. I do apologize if it seemed presumptuous."

"I have never seen magics of this sort before, not even from Mithrandir. How is it that one so young can do such things?"

"I have been learning magic since I was eleven years of age your Majesty, and in my land there are evil beings called Dementors, and that spell is the only thing that will drive them away. I had to learn it to protect not only myself, but my friends." Harry replied.

"And where is this land and what is it called?" the King asked Harry.

"It is called England, and it is very far from here. I and My companion," indicating Luna who was now standing next to him, "came to Middle Earth

through a magical portal. We met Mithrandir on what he called the Western Road. We started talking and eventually, he asked if we would be willing to accompany a group of Dwarves on a journey, and we agreed."

"So you say." Replied the King. "How do I know that you truly are a companion of Mithrandir? He has never mentioned you or your companion in all the long years I have known him." The King asked.

"Gandalf told me you would ask this." Harry replied. "He told me that when you asked to say that at the end of the second age, before the Dark Lord was defeated, a secret meeting was held here between yourself, Elrond of Rivendell, Mithrandir, Saruman the White, and one other who traveled in secret to be here."

"And who was this _other_?" the King asked, looking very closely at Harry. "The meeting you speak of is, after all this time, well known."

"Yes, so Gandalf explained to me. But what is not known is that it was Queen Galadriel of Lothlórien who traveled here in secret, and brought only three escorts with her."

Thorin looked at Harry, a very surprised look on the Dwarves face. "When did Gandalf tell you all this?" he asked.

"Luna and I talked with him the night before we left Beorn's. He was worried something might happen to the company while we were in the forest, and he told me this so that I could prove to King Thranduil that I knew him, and that he trusted me."

"And did he tell you what was discussed?" the King asked.

"He did not." Harry replied. "Luna asked him, but he said he could not reveal what was talked about."

The King was silent for a long time. His gaze kept shifting between Harry and Luna and then to the Dwarves. Finally he said. "Very well. I do believe you are a companion of Mithrandir." He then clapped his hands sharply. "Take these Dwarves," indicating the still frozen fivesome, "to the healers, and take the others to a suitable hall and give the food and drink. You Harry Potter will remain here. I wish to speak to you further."

"May Luna remain here as well?" Harry asked the King.

But before he got an answer, Luna spoke up in her until now unused _Looney Lovegood_ voice. "It's better I accompany the dwarves to the healers Harry. After all, someone needs to remove the stasis spell on them and make sure no Dingleberries get to them. I will need my wand though."

"Can Luna have her wand back please?" Harry asked the Elvin King, and pretended he hadn't heard the Dingleberry comment.

"Wand? What is a wand?" he asked.

Legolas stepped forward and handed both Harry's and Luna's wands to the King, as well as Harry's sword. "They use these to do magic father," Legolas said, indicating the wands, "and this sword was also being carried by him. He warned me not to remove it from it's scabbard as it was magical."

The King turned his gaze to Luna and asked, "If I give this back to you, will you give me your word you will not use it to harm any of my people?"

"As long as no one tries to harm me, I will not harm them." Luna answered in an almost sing-song voice.

"They will not." The King said. "Which of these is yours?" He asked her, holding up both wands.

Luna practically skipped forward and plucked her wand out of the Kings hand. "This one," She said with a smile. "and thank you."

The King, for his part, looked like he didn't know whether to be angry at her forwardness, or amused. Finally he said, "Very well, take these Dwarves to the healers, and the others to the Hall of Waiting. Legolas, you will remain as well. The rest may leave."

-=ooo000ooo=-

After everyone had left, except for Harry and Legolas, the King turned once aging to Harry and holding up his sword asked. "Harry Potter, you warned my son not to remove this sword from it's scabbard, why?"

"This sword, as well as the others the company carried, were found in a hoard of Troll plunder that we came across somewhere between the town of Bree and Rivendell. Elrond looked at all of them and told us what he knew of them. He said this sword was named Gurthang, and was made by the Dark Elf Eöl. He told me this Elf made two such swords but one was destroyed long ago, and the other, this one apparently, hasn't been seen until just now. As to the warning, the sword bonded to me, and I didn't know what, if anything, it might do if another hand drew it from it's sheath. Even Luna has never handled it."

Whatever answer the Elvin King expected, this wasn't it. He handed the sword back to Harry as said "Draw the sword, I wish to see it's blade."

Harry slowly drew Gurthang from it's scabbard and then held it out in both hands so the King could look at the blade without having to touch it.

Thranduil gazed at the black sword and stretched out his hand as if to touch the blade, but drew it back at the last moment. "This sword is very dark Harry Potter. Not evil, but dark none the less. I am amazed a mortal has the power to command it."

"It was a great struggle when it bonded to me your Majesty. It tried to take control of me at first, but in the end, I managed to conquer it. Now it only takes control in a fight, but releases it's control when that fight is over."

"You said you came to Middle Earth through a magical portal from a land called England…why did you come here in the first place, and who commanded you to do so?" asked Thranduil.

"No one commanded me or Luna to come here your Majesty. We had both fought in a magical war that took place in our land, and both of were hurt very badly by it. Not in body so much, but in spirit. We won our war, and I killed the Dark Wizard that was trying to take over our land, but afterwards we both wished for a place we could escape to, if only for a short time so we could heal. Both of us were in a special room when we wished for this, and as soon as we made this wish, a portal appeared. It had the word "HOPE" written above it. I was going to go through and see what was on the other side, and I told Luna to go and tell my friends that had also survived what I had done. But soon after I walked through, Luna must have gone through as well because I woke up in a field and found her lying next to me. This was near the Western Road where we met Gand...Mithrandir."

"And who rules this England?" the King asked.

"England has a Queen named Elizabeth, and we are by law her subjects, but neither Luna or I are under any direct oaths of fealty to her." Harry replied, hoping Thranduil would accept this at face value and not inquire further about how England was ruled. He really didn't want to get into a discussion about Parliamentary Governments.

"And this girl, Luna. She is your wife or bed companion?"

Harry felt his face starting to redden at this question. "Ah…no she isn't my wife or, my _companion_. Though I suspect that may change in the future. We have been getting closer ever since we came to Middle Earth, and I suspect it's what we both need to heal our hearts." For the life of him, Harry didn't know why he was telling all this to the King. Telling him things he barely admitted to himself, let alone anyone else. Part of him still felt like be was betraying Neville's memory. Though that feeling was getting weaker as every day passed.

"And what of the Dwarves. Where are they traveling too?"

Harry knew the King would ask this question, and he had been debating with himself whether or not to tell him the truth, or politely refuse to answer, saying it was not his place to say. In the end, it was Gandalf's opinion of Thranduil that made his decision. "They are headed back to the Lonely Mountain to try and win back their stolen treasure from the dragon who stole it and killed most of their people."

"And how much of this gold has been promised to you if they succeed?" he asked.

"None." Harry said simply. "I have more gold at home than I could spend in ten lifetimes. I don't need any more. Luna and I are simply doing this as a favor to Mithrandir. He fears that if there is another war with the Dark Lord Sauron, the dragon would be used by him against the peoples of Middle Earth."

The King was silent for a long while. So long in fact that Harry began to get uncomfortable. But finally he said. "You have given me much to think about Harry Potter, much indeed. Go now and return to your friends. Legolas will guide you to them. You will find food and drink there as well as basins to refresh yourself."

Harry started to turn to go when the King called him back. He held out Harry's wand and sword. "These I believe belong to you. He took his wand and sword back and with a respectful bow, left with Legolas to go and find the Dwarves. He only hoped Thorin wouldn't be too pissed off at him for telling he King of their mission.


	15. Chapter 15 - A Short Rest

A/N1: My thanks to everyone who sent in reviews or comments.

A/N2: I would also like to send my Condolences out to the family of Broomstick Flyer. She was a wonderful and talented writer, and her passing on March 22 will leave a extremely large hole in the Fan Fiction Community.

Chapter 15 – A Short Rest

Legolas had been leading Harry to where the Dwarves were in silence. So silent in fact that had it been a Wizard he was walking with, he would have sworn there was a silencing charm on his feet. When they got to what Harry assumed was the Hall of Waiting though, he stopped without entering and spoke to Harry for the first time. "My father has shown great trust in you Harry Potter. Never before has he allowed strangers to walk the halls of our realm while in arms."

"I was just as surprised as you are when he gave me back my wand and sword, but you don't have to worry. Neither Luna or I will betray that trust. Though I did notice that he didn't do the same with the Dwarves."

"No, and he will not. Their arms will not be returned until they leave."

"Do you have any idea how long it will take the five that were poisoned to be well enough to travel?" he asked.

"They should be well enough in 3 or 4 days, but I'm basing that on how long it would take an Elf to recover. We try to have as little contact with Dwarves as possible so they may be different." Legolas replied.

"Why is there so much bad blood between your two peoples? Gandalf never really told me, and I never thought to ask."

"The Elves and the Dwarves have distrusted each other for as long as we have been recording our history here in Middle Earth. We prefer peaceful existence between out race and the lands around us. The Dwarves are forever digging in the ground or hills to get more gold and gems, and tend towards jealously against those who are better off than themselves rather than be content with they have. These days, both our peoples are better off ignoring each other."

"Well,"" Harry said after pondering the Elf's words, "it could be worse I suppose. You could be constantly fighting."

"Very true." And then looking at the door, continued, "Here I will leave you Harry Potter. Your traveling companions are inside. I don't know if Miss Lovegood is with them or if she is still with our healers, but she will be brought here when she is done."

"Thank you, and when you see the King next, please convey my thanks to him for his trust in me," and then after a pause added. "any apologies for not doing so myself as I should have."

"I will do that Harry Potter. Have a pleasant night." Legolas replied and then left him at the door.

-=ooo000ooo=-

When Harry opened the door and walked into the room, well, hall would really describe it better, all the Dwarves looked up to see who had entered. When Thorin saw him he immediately asked about the condition of the five members of the company that were with the Elvin healers.

"I don't know yet how they are Thorin, though Legolas, the Elf who brought me here said that if they recover the same as Elves do, they should be fit to travel in 3 or 4 days. Luna will likely be able to tell you more when she arrives."

Not saying anything, Thorin simply nodded his acceptance. But then he noticed that Harry was carrying his sword. "How come you by that?" he asked, indicating the weapon.

"The Elvin King gave me back both the sword and my wand after talking to me."

"Why would he do that? What did you tell him?" Thorin asked in an accusatory tone. But Harry was spared answering the Dwarf when the door to the hall opened, and Luna walked in. Harry went to her asking as he went. "The Dwarves?"

"They'll be fine." Luna answered. "After I removed the stasis charm, they were given the anti toxin for the spider venom and they had already started to respond when I left. The Elvin healers tell me they'll likely wake in a few hours, but they'll be feeling very sick until the venom is out of their system." Luna explained. "That should take about a day. After that, another two or three days till they're fit top travel again."

"Well that's good news at least." Harry replied. "Do you still have your wand?"

"Oh yes, the King send word to the guards that I was to be allowed to keep it when I left. I see you got your sword back as well."

"And my wand." Harry confirmed. "The King gave both back to me after our talk."

"And what did you talk about?" asked the voice of Thorin who had been standing near Harry as Luna told him about the Dwarves.

Harry sighed. "He asked mainly about the sword. He wanted to know why I had told the guards not to draw it from it's scabbard. He also asked where the company was traveling to." Harry answered.

"And, what did you tell him?" the Dwarf demanded.

"I told him the truth, that you were traveling to the Lonely Mountain to try and get back your treasure from the dragon."

"You should NOT have told him that." The Dwarf said angrily. "It is none of his business where we were going or what we were doing."

"Actually he had every right, or are you forgetting that we're traveling through his realm? Or that the road we were following was made by his people?" Harry snapped. "And…" he continued, not giving Thorin a chance to reply, "I was not about to thank him for saving the lives of the others by lying to him!"

Harry turned and left Thorin standing there with his mouth open. The old Dwarf was obviously not used to people talking to him like that.

-=ooo000ooo=-

After Harry had calmed down considerably, (Luna had helped immensely simply by laying her head on his shoulder) Bilbo decided it was safe to ask him something that had been bothering him for some weeks.

"Harry, I was wondering, do you know any way I could get a letter to someone back in the Shire?"

"Is something wrong Bilbo?" he asked.

"Well, not wrong, but I did run off this spring without telling anyone where I was going or when I'd be back."

"Are you worried the people in the Shire will think you're not coming back?" Luna asked him.

"Well, either not coming back or that I'm dead." Bilbo replied.

"Well, who could you tell if we could get a letter to them?" Harry asked him.

"The only Hobbit I trust enough and who knows his letters is Roper Gamgee. He and his boy Hamfast live at Number 3 Bagshot row, just below Bagend. We've know each other since we were lads, even though he's five years older than I am."

While Bilbo was telling him all about the Gamgee's, Harry had summoned his pack and was fishing around for a quill and parchment. He found the parchment, but no quill. Instead, he pulled out a fountain pen that had a calligraphy nib on it. "Write your letter Bilbo," Harry told him. "and I'll take it to him."

"But how…."

"I'll just pop back to Hobbiton, deliver the letter, and then pop back." But Bilbo didn't seem to understand. "Remember how we crossed the river in the forest?" Harry added

Bilbo nodded a yes.

"Well, it's the same thing, only it's farther away."

"Well, if you can disappear that far, why can't you take all of us to this mountain we're traveling to? Why are we walking?"

"Bilbo," Luna began softly. "We can only Apparate, that's what it's called by the way, to someplace we've either been before, or someplace we can actually see. Neither of us have been to the Lonely Mountain before, so we don't know where to go. That's why we have to walk there."

"So…if I wanted to be done with this adventure, could you take me with you when you delivered my letter?"

Harry had been afraid that Bilbo would make that connection when they were crossing the river, but he guessed that Bombour falling into the river and everything that had happened later had driven it from the Hobbits mind.

"I can." He replied carefully. "If you truly want to go home. And I wouldn't blame you if you did Bilbo. Gandalf may be very wise, but he never really asked you if you wanted to go did he? He just said you were going."

"No he didn't ask. He just said I was going on this adventure without even a 'By your leave.'"

"May I make a suggestion then?" Harry asked.

"You're going to suggest I continue."

"Actually, no." Harry said shocking the Hobbit. "I was going to suggest that you take a few days to think about it. I can take your letter as soon as you finish it, and we'll be here for a while until the Dwarves recover. If you still want to go home then, you have my word that Luna or I will take you."

"Alright, that seems fair." Bilbo said, and then after a few more moments added. "I guess I have a letter to write." And then after taking the parchment and pen from Harry, went off to a corner to begin writing.

-=ooo000ooo=-

Bilbo came back to Harry a half hour later with his letter finished. "I've finished my letter." he said, "But the only thing is that I've offered him six silver pennies to watch over Bagend, and I didn't get a chance to take my money pouch when we left."

Harry started fishing around in his pockets. He pulled out 2 Galleons and 3 Sickles. "Luna, do you have any sickles on you?" he asked.

"Actually I believe I do. Just a tic." She replied. And then proceeded to fish around in her own pockets. She came up with 4 Galleons and 7 Sickles, plus an odd number of Knuts. "How many do you need?" She asked.

"Just 4 Sickles." Harry answered, and Luna gave them to him. "Thanks Luna."

Harry turned back to Harry and asked, "Bilbo, are these close to the size of your silver pennies?" he asked the Hobbit, showing him the coins.

"They look about the same size. But I can't take yours and Luna's money." He said.

"Why? Is it the design on them?" Harry asked.

"No it's not the design. This is your money. It wouldn't be right." Bilbo said a little embarrassed.

"I think I see the problem Harry." Luna interjected. "Bilbo, are we your friends?" she asked him kindly.

"Well, yes. At least I consider you my friends." He answered.

"Well friends help friends Bilbo, but if it will make you feel better, you can pay us back when you get home, or when you get your reward from the Dwarves."

Bilbo thought about this for a while and finally said. "That would be acceptable."

"Good. Problem solved then." Luna said with a warm smile. "Harry can take your letter to your neighbor, and if he agrees to look after your home, pay him the money."

"Thank you both." and then turning his attention back to Harry asked "When will you go?"

"Right now if you like, I just need your letter."

Bilbo held out the letter and after taking it said. "I'll be back in a bit." And then with a soft crack, he disappeared.

Bilbo shook his head in amazement. "I saw that when you did that by the river Luna, and I'm still amazed. And you can really take people with you when you….disappear like that?"

Luna laughed softly. "Yes we really can take people with us, as long as we know where we're going."

"So how long do you think he'll be gone?"

"Oh not long." Luna answered. "Why don't we get something to eat while we wait? I haven't eaten since we got here."

"Well, I am a bit hungry…."

"Come on Bilbo." And they headed off to the table the Elves had set up with food and drink for the company.

-=ooo000ooo=-

Hobbiton

Had there been anyone looking at Bilbo's front door, they would have seen an amazing sight, and a medium height man suddenly appeared with a soft pop. Seemingly out of thin air. He was dressed in a dark cloak, with a hood that covered his head. The man walked looked around for a moment to get his bearings, and then started to make his way down the Hobbits walkway to the road.

He was walking at a gentle pace, just like he belonged there. Even though it was rare to see any 'big people' as they were called in the Shire, there in the first place. Most never left the Western Road as this was where all the Inns were located.

The man kept walking till he found himself at a sign that read simply "3" with the name "Gamgee" underneath it. He opened the gate and walked up to the round door and knocked.

After a few moments the door opened and a small Hobbit boy stood there. He was startled at the sight of the cloaked stranger, but managed to croak out a "Yes? May I help you Sir?" in his most polite, albeit frightened voice.

Harry smiled to himself slightly and said. "Good afternoon. Would Mr. Gamgee be here please?"

The lad looked up at this tall cloaked man, easily three feet taller than himself and replied. "My Da's in the back Sir. May I ask what you want him for?"

Harry pulled out the letter from Bilbo and said. "I have a letter for him from Mr. Baggins at Number Four. Could you please tell him for me?"

"From Mr. Bilbo? I'll get him right away," and with that, he closed the door, and Harry faintly heard running.

He didn't have to wait long before the door opened again, and a older Hobbit was standing there. Yes? what be you a wanting?"

"Mr. Gamgee?" Harry asked.

The Hobbit simply nodded a yes.

Harry held out the letter. "My name is Potter, and I have a letter from Mr. Baggins Sir. I met him in Bree some week ago, when he asked my employer, a Mr. Butterbur, if a letter could be taken to Hobbiton. This was the first chance I've had to deliver it."

Roper Gamgee slowly took the letter, still not too sure about this stranger. He opened it and started to read it. He 'knew his letters' as the Hobbits called the art of reading, but he had to take his time. Harry simply stood there, waiting patiently. Finally when he finished it he said. "Aye, I'd be happy to look after Mr. Bilbo's hole fer him."

"Excellent." Harry said, pulling out a leather pouch. He took the six sickles out of the pouch and handed them to old Roper. "He also gave me six silver pennies to give to you if you agreed, and one other thing." He pushed his hood down and removed a rawhide cord from around his neck. On the cord was a silver key. "This is the key to his home. He said you should have it in case you need to enter," and then handed over the key. "He also asked me to tell you that you can show this letter to anyone your think necessary to show them that he plans to return, and when that will be."

"Aye, there have been many that have been askin where Mr. Bilbo took off to and why. Some have said he's run off on some adventure, or some sort a thing. I tried to tell em that Mr. Bilbo was a proper Hobbit, and that none a that Tookish foolishness was in him. But ye know people start to talkin, especially after one too many tankards."

Harry smiled. "I do indeed. I see it all the time at the Pony," he replied, dropping the name of the Prancing Pony so that his story of why he was there would be more believable to anyone who heard it later. It would give Bilbo less trouble later on when he returned.

"Was there anything else he wanted me to know?" Roped asked him.

"No Sir, so I'll take my leave." Harry bowed his head slightly, and then pulling his hood back up, turned and walked back up the path to the road. Making sure to latch the gate as he had found it when he entered. He strolled leisurely up the road, back towards Bilbo's till he was screened from everyone by a large tree. Had anyone been able to see him, they would have seen him spin slightly and disappear with a soft 'Pop'

-=ooo000ooo=-

Roper Gamgee watched as the cloaked 'big person' walked away. He, like most of the inhabitants of the Shire was very wary of strangers, and even more so when they were some of the big people, as they were generally considered untrustworthy. But even he had to admit that this one didn't seem to like that. He had handed over to him six silver pennies. Not a fortune, but still a considerable sum in those parts. Add to that he also had the key to Mr. Bilbo's front door. He could have robbed the Hobbit blind as well at taken the coins for himself, but he didn't, and Roper, having been invited to Bag End many times by Mr. Bilbo, knew how many valuable items the Hobbit had in his home, and was both touched and proud that Mr. Bilbo trusted him to look after his home.

Suddenly he chuckled to himself. He knew it wouldn't be too much longer before Otho and Lobelia Sackville Baggins, Mr. Bilbo's horrid cousins, started sniffing around the hole, trying to see if they could get their hands on it. Something they had been wanting for some time now as it was considered one of the nicest holes in the entire Shire. He would take great pleasure in showing them the letter from Mr. Bilbo, saying that he would be gone for at least a year, maybe a year and a half, but that he would return.

He was also pleased that Mr. Bilbo had told his that he and Hamfast could take everything that was in his garden for their own, as it would spoil long before he would return, and he would rather someone made use of the large amount of vegetables that were currently growing there, and which were nearly ready to be harvested.

He didn't know if he had enough room in his pantry to store all the food that would come from Mr. Bilbo's garden, but since he had his key, he figured he could use Mr. Bilbo's pantry to store them if he didn't. This would be a good Yule for them.

-=ooo000ooo=-

Harry popped back into the hall the Elves had given the company for their use, and was immediately set on by Thorin.

"Where have you been Mr. Potter? I saw you disappear nearly a half hour ago."

"I just had an errand to run for Bilbo back in Hobbiton. He wanted a letter delivered to his neighbor." Harry answered.

"Back in Hobbiton? You went all the way there and back in a half hour?" Thorin asked in a stunned voice.

"Well actually, most of the time was taken up talking to the Hobbit I gave the letter to, but yes. Why?" Harry asked him, knowing full well what Thorin was on about.

"If you can go that far in so short a time, then why are we all walking to the mountain. Why don't you just pop us all there right now?"

Harry sighed, but resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He then proceeded to tell the story and theory of apparition again.

Thorin nodded his understanding, and clearly his disappointment.

"Now I don't know about you, but I'm hungry. What did the Elves leave us to eat?"

-=ooo000ooo=-

It was almost three hours later, and Harry and Luna had long since finished their meal. They were sitting with Bilbo when the door to the hall they were in opened, and Legolas, the Elf who brought Harry there appeared. "Miss Lovegood, could you come with me please? One of the Dwarves has awakened."

"Oh course." She replied and got up and started off towards the door. "I'll let you know as soon as I know how they are." She told Harry and Thorin, who had made his way over to them when he heard what the Elf had to say.

She soon disappeared, and the group had to wait nearly an hour for her to return.

When she did come back, she saw that everyone had stood and were now staring at her. She walked over to Thorin's group. "Bifur is awake," She said simply. "and other than a headache that the Elves say will pass in an hour or two, he seems to be alright. Nori was also showing signs of waking as I was leaving, and the Elven healers expect all of them to be awake within another hour or two."

"When can I see them?" Thorin asked.

"The healers want to wait till all of them are awake before they start getting visitors. They said they'd send someone to get you and up to one other. At least until they're stronger."

"Thank you Miss Lovegood." Thorin told her.

-=ooo000ooo=-

But it was almost four hours later when there was a soft knock at the door, and an Elf entered. "They are all awake." he said simply. Thorin and half the company started towards the door, but the Elf held his open hand up. "Only two at a time please. They are still weak."

Harry spoke up. "Thorin, if I make a suggestion?" he asked tentatively.

Thorin nodded.

"Why don't you and Balin go and see them first? You two are the senior members of the company after all." Harry suggested.

Thorin seemed to think this over for a few moments before replying. "Yes, excellent suggestion Mr. Potter. Excellent suggestion." And with that he and Balin headed off with the Elves to see their comrades.

-=ooo000ooo=-

In all, it took the Dwarves over a week before they were fit to travel again. They were out of bed by the second day and back with their friends, but they tired easily, though the Elvin Healers told them this would get better as the days passed.

And so it was that ten days later, the entire company found themselves in the throne room of the Elvin King.

"The Healers tell me you have all recovered sufficient to continue on your journey back to your home in Mount Erebor."

Thorin shot Harry a dirty look at this statement by the King. One the King didn't miss.

"Do not hold Mr. Potter in fault Thorin Oakenshield. I put him in a very difficult position. He had to choose between lying to me, which I would have known about instantly, and then not trusted him afterwards, or tell me the truth to get the best possible help for the sick." The King lectured Thorin. "And because of this, it won't cost you…much, if you regain the mountain."

"And just how much is much?" Thorin practically snarled.

"I only want one thing," the King replied, "The Emerald Necklace of Girion."

"You ask for a great deal." Thorin told him. "That necklace is made up of over 500 of the finest emeralds we have ever seen."

"Yes I am asking for much, but I have also given much. Pray tell me, how much value to you place on the lives of five of your kin?"

Harry could see that Thorin was struggling. He clearly wanted to say something that likely would not have been received well by the King and the other Elves, but the Dwarf held his tongue and simply said. "Agreed."

"Then you are all free to go. My people will guide you to the edge of the forest and leave you by the rivers entrance. From there, simply follow it till you reach Lake Town. We have also refilled your bags with food to last you seven days, though it should only take you five to reach the town. Fare well."

Thorin gave the King a _very _curt, and very short bow in thanks and recognition of the Elvin help, and Harry couldn't help but notice the Elvin Kings amusement at this. _'The old bugger is enjoying this'_ he thought. _'He knows this is pissing Thorin off to no end, and he just can't help but twist the knife a few more times.'_

The Dwarves and Bilbo filed out of the throne room, some of them grumbling softly under their breath over the deal the Elvin King had forced Thorin to make, but none of them seemed to be willing to voice these complaints out loud.

Before he and Luna left though, and after the Dwarves were out of earshot, they both turned to the King, and after bowing respectively, Harry said "Thank you your Majesty for all the help you and your people have given our company. I'm sure the Dwarves are more grateful then they let on, but they're…well they're still _Dwarves._"

The King looked at Harry and Luna, a small smile on his face. "Fare you well Harry Potter, Luna Lovegood. Go in peace, and know that you both will always be welcome in anytime in my realm."

Harry and Luna gave the King another bow, and them turned to follow the Dwarves out of the hall.


End file.
